T&T | Court Orders Caribbean Airlines’ Pilots Back To Work Following Industrial Action

MONTEGO BAY,  August 22, 2023 - Caribbean Airlines, also known as CAL, has received an injunction from the Industrial Court of Trinidad and Tobago, instructing pilots to immediately return to work and refrain from calling in sick.

Attorneys representing CAL filed an emergency injunction on August 20, under the Industrial Relations Act, in the Industrial Court, which was granted on Monday at around 1.30 a.m.

Industrial Court judges Melvin Daniel, Albert Aberdeen and Bindimattie Mahabir presided over the matter in an emergency session.

CAL has experienced disruptions to its operations due to a shortage of cockpit crew, leading to several flight cancellations.

According to local reports, the airline’s pilots have engaged in industrial action after wage negotiations failed.

CAL’s attorneys filed an emergency injunction under the Industrial Relations Act on Sunday, and the court granted it early Monday morning.

The injunction restrains all Trinidad and Tobago Airline Pilots Association (TTALPA) members from participating in industrial action, including calling in sick en masse.

In a series of press releases, CAL described the problem as originating from “cockpit crew constraints” after many pilots called in sick three hours before they were supposed to command their aircraft between Trinidad and Tobago, and between Trinidad and Guyana, several islands and North America.

The airline pilots association, in a statement on Sunday, denied that it had taken strike action, stating that it was barred from taking such industrial action since it was an essential service.

The association said that “its members continue to fly with their safety and best interest at heart”.

There was local and international chaos involving CAL passengers who discovered suddenly on Sunday morning that their flights were being delayed or cancelled without clear reason.

In the meantime, Head of the Tobago Business Chamber Martin George criticised Caribbean Airlines for its “continued mismanagement”, which he said is having a negative effect on the economy.

In a statement yesterday, George said CAL’s chief executive officer Garvin Madera should have come forward and “face the music” amid the impasse.

CAL issued a statement yesterday apologising to passengers for the disruption, which it explained was as a result of 93 pilots calling in sick just before they were scheduled to report for duty.

“Where is the CEO of Caribbean Airlines? Why isn’t he coming forward and issuing a statement on this debacle? When any such situation occurs internationally, you will see the CEO of any major airline come forth and face the music and give some sort of accountability and transparency to the process,” George said yesterday.

“It may be that they had their legitimate grouses and reasons for wanting to take some type of action. And it cannot be that CAL as an organisation is seeking to expand into territories and areas, create new routes, such as St Kitts, Caracas, St Maarten, and you are saying you face resource constraints. The two are incongruous. It’s either you have the resources to do so and to do so successfully or you don’t,” George said.

“You cannot have your existing routes suffering because of resource constraints and then saying you are expanding into new areas. We are saying that you must take care of home first. The Tobago route has been something that has been a bugbear for travellers for years and it has gotten worse and there seems to be no improvement, no reliability that you can have with Caribbean Airlines and simple travel for a 15 minute flight between Trinidad and Tobago,” he stated.

“We’ve seen that as a result of yesterday’s debacle, persons saying that they don’t want to come back to Tobago at all. Why should Tobago be suffering as a result of that? Why should Trinidad be suffering as a result of this? Why should Trinbagonians or international visitors be suffering as a result of this? This is clearly mismanagement and poor practices at Caribbean Airlines and it is something that the Government has to take responsibility for because CAL is owned by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago,” George added.

TOURISM Minister Randall Mitchell is hopeful that the entire situation with Caribbean Airlines (CAL) is resolved in the shortest possible time.

“It is our hope that the issues resulting in the cancellation of flights and the disruption to CAL’s schedule are speedily resolved so that travellers’ flights will be rescheduled with the least inconvenience possible,” Mitchell said.