(BBC) – It appears that the protracted dispute between management and pilots of regional carrier LIAT could be resolved soon.
The two sides met on Monday with the prime ministers of Antigua, Barbados and St Vincent – the shareholder countries of the airline.
Following the Kingstown meeting it was decided that the matter would be forwarded to an arbitration panel, for resolution by 30 September.
Host Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said that retired Barbadian jurist Leroy Inniss QC would chair the panel, with management and the pilots each appointing a representative.
The main matter of contention is salaries and working conditions, over which pilots have staged industrial action. In recent months their actions forced the cancellation of a number of flights throughout the region, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded.
Following one such incident in May, LIAT obtained an injunction preventing the pilots from taking industrial action until their contract dispute with management is settled.
The pilots have until 30 July to challenge the court order.
“We have an undertaking, an assurance by the pilots association that any and all industrial action which they have denied they have taken would cease and that the injunction would be lifted on the 30th because that’s the date when you have to return to court,” Prime Minister Gonsalves said.
Gonsalves said that the ongoing dispute between the pilots and management has benefited no one.
He also noted that LIAT has lost an estimated US $534,000 so far this month, as a result of disruption to its schedule.
LIAT chairman Jean Holder described the discussions as ‘historic’, and added that without the carrier there would be no (Caricom) single market and economy.
“The socio-economic and even cultural development of this region depends on its ability to move persons and business around the region.
LIAT is what we have now and without LIAT there really is no single market and economy, it is as simple as that.”
Holder also pointed to what he said was another critical problem within the airline that must be addressed.
“I think LIAT has always had a communication problem and I think we addressed that squarely today.
“That the various moving parts of LIAT need to be in constant communication so that the whole can work,” Holder said. The pilots were represented at the talks by their union, the Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA).
LIALPA chairman Michael Blackburn said he was optimistic about the outcome of the arbitration.
“We will keep our end of the bargain, I’m sure they will keep theirs and hopefully we can expedite the matter of arbitration to be determined by the end of September.
