LIAT and Pilots Back on Track: Industrial Action Ends With Pay Agreement

June 13, 2017 in Regional

Travel on regional airline LIAT is back to normal after management of the carrier struck a deal with pilots to end a three-day strike.

From last Wednesday to Friday, pilots represented by the Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA) refused to fly the company’s ATR 72 planes unless they were appropriately compensated in keeping with a pay increase agreed by the company in January for flying the larger planes.

But LIALPA president Captain Carl Burke said agreement was reached late Friday evening on the payment terms for the additional money to fly the ATR 72s, as well as retroactive pay. He said a Consent Order was signed in that regard.

The order was formalized yesterday at the Industrial Court, where LIAT had earlier filed an application for a court injunction to force pilots back to work.

LIALPA had insisted that the pay rise agreed to in January had to be honoured, as flying the ATR 72 aircraft was “increased responsibility in terms of passengers and payload”.