ACAWU threatens more protests

This from John as he addressed BWIA employees during a meeting at the Centre of Excellence in Macoya, where he reminded workers that they should not buckle to the pressure of BWIA management, to cripple the work of the union.

John told the audience that he received information that BWIA may lose the London route which represented approximately 40 percent of the airline’s revenue and in addition, flights into Barbados and Antigua may soon be stopped.

He said a reliable source informed him that the current members of staff were training employees of Service Air to replace them and the Traffic Department may soon be contracted to a private company.

John said he believed in the near future there could be a new BWIA comprising of only maintenance, pilots and flight attendants. He said the change could take place as soon as the August vacation is over.

On the issue of the standstill between BWIA and the union, where salary negotiations were concerned, John said he wanted to send a clear message to BWIA management: “I will use every strategy necessary to get BWIA back to the negotiating table.”

John said management had “changed the work rules without notifying the union,” adding this was a major concern of the union. John added that management had a new rule which stated that employees were to notify the human resource department at least four hours in advance, if they were to apply for sick leave.

He said that on numerous occasions he asked for an independent investigation into the financial affairs of the cash-strapped airline, but this request was unheeded.

He noted that top executives of the company paid in excess of US$135 per night to stay at top hotels and spent over $1,200 of the company’s money on dinners in foreign countries.