BWIA — a money sponge

I may mention that I have resorted to publicly writing about the treatment meted out to me by BWIA security officers because I was unable to get any response at all from some officials to whom I complained and unsatisfactory responses from others. My going to the press was in the nature of a last resort as I would have preferred if this matter were dealt with privately. But it is the deliberate indifference to complaints which gives the impression that BWIA security officers may have been carrying out the policy directions of the airline.

On arriving in Canada I wrote to Mr Nelson Tom Yew, then CEO of the airline, on September 22, 2005, to outline what transpired at Piarco on the 17th and the offensive attitude of the officer in question. I did get a response from him dated October 17, 2005, which stated that he had passed my letter to Mr Peter Mc Carthy, Director of Security, who will investigate and communicate with me directly. To date, eight months later, I have received no communication from Mr Mc Carthy.

On December 15, 2005, I spoke to Mr Arthur Lok Jack, Chairman of BWIA, about the matter and to date have received no response. Then last February 8, I had an interview with Dr Lenny Saith, the Minister responsible for BWIA, to reiterate my complaint but again was not favoured with a reply. Presumably these gentlemen do not concern themselves with such trivia as customer complaints.

Finally I wrote Mr Peter Davies, the new CEO, on the matter. I heard nothing until after my column of May 28, 2006 in which I promised to write about discrimination at BWIA and the targeting of Indo-Trinidadians. The following week I received a letter from Mr Davies’ office which apologised for the way I was treated and promised to have the Customer Relations Department investigate and respond to me. I am patiently waiting.

Let me emphasise that BWIA is not just any state enterprise. It is a fathomless black hole where taxpayers’ funds are concerned. It is like a huge sponge with an unquenchable capacity for absorbing volumes of financial flows. It is one of the first enterprises which the PNM Government gave financial support continuously from way back in 1963, through loan arrangements which were never repaid. For about three decades now the Government has had a majority shareholding in the airline and taxpayers’ funds have been freely employed to subsidise its operations.

This subsidy has increased by leaps and bounds and has been averaging US $150 million or TT $945 million per year for a number of years. This is almost one billion TT dollars annually. Compare this with the TT $200 million annually which the Government was using to support Caroni (1975) Limited with 10,000 employees for the past five or six years before its closure, and which created such a furore among PNM supporters.

In March this year, The PNM Government announced that it would inject US $250 million (or TT $1.6 billion) into the airline for it to continue operations until the much touted restructuring approved by the Arthur Lok Jack committee takes place. Inciden-tally this was the sum spent on building the new airport. But this seems to be the latest kite that the PNM Government is flying. We have had similar hopeful initiatives announced before and all of them have come to nought. BWIA has had a chequered history of corruption and mismanagement.

The Government as the majority shareholder and moving force behind the airline has played a dominant role in determining its management structure and in influencing its employment practices.

I did mention to Minister Saith and Mr Lok Jack that even if the management of BWIA acts with scrupulous fairness and objectivity in its recruitment, it will not be able to discern the biases and prejudices of its employees at this point of entry into the organisation. It is possible that at a later date biased and discriminatory attitudes may be revealed. It is therefore incumbent on management at this juncture to take corrective action.

On the other hand, the airline may be indifferent to the perception held by Indo-Trinidadians of unequal treatment in view of the fact that it is a monopoly carrier on certain routes. If Indo-Trinidadians are convinced that the airline treats with them unfairly, they can use their consumer power to some effect to force change. They can withdraw their patronage of BWIA and use alternative airlines, particularly on North American and Caribbean routes. Discrimination should not be condoned in the guise of nationalism.

If it is perceived that this “national” airline is discriminating against one ethnic group not only as customers but as prospective employees, it is only reasonable to call for an enquiry.

Some people view me as a trouble maker. I make no apologies for being so perceived as it is ‘trouble makers’ throughout history who have been the initiators of change.

trevorsudama@tstt.net.tt