BWIA, unions meet Friday

Aviation Communication and Allied Workers Union (ACAWU) president Curtis John confirmed the time and venue of the meeting, describing it as “the moment of truth” for BWIA.

Recalling that the unions have been repeatedly asking the airline’s management without success about the way forward for BWIA over the last few months, John said he hoped that Friday’s meeting would clear the air on this issue once and for all.

John added that he also hoped that BWIA’s management would also be able to clear the air on reports that BWIA would be closed down, its workers retrenched and the airline replaced by a new one reportedly called Caribbean Airlines. BWIA officials have dismissed talks about the airline’s shutdown as “unsubstantiated rumours.” BWIA’s four unions (ACAWU, the Trinidad and Tobago Pilots Association, Superintendents Association and the Communication, Transport and General Workers Union) have also been trying to find out about Government’s plans to divest its shares in BWIA and privatise the airline.

The Finance and General Purposes Committee of the Cabinet discussed matters pertaining to BWIA yesterday and sources claim that a decision could be made following the regular weekly Cabinet meeting on Thursday at Whitehall.

Public Administration and Information Minister Dr Lenny Saith (who chairs a Cabinet sub-committee on BWIA) has declined to comment on rumours of BWIA’s shutdown but said Cabinet would make a decision soon on the airline’s future.

Saith, who was unavailable for comment yesterday, had previously indicated that Government stood ready to inject US$250 million in equity into BWIA once its stakeholders were clear on the way forward for the airline. Saith has neither confirmed nor denied statements made by PNM vice- chairman John Donaldson following a PNM General Council meeting in July that BWIA would be privatised. In that same month, BWIA CEO Peter Davies said the airline would be privatised in keeping with his mandate to provide a safe, efficient and profitable carrier connecting the Caribbean with the rest of the world.