By Theresa Goodwin
Over 15,000 people have signed a petition that has been launched by former LIAT employees on Change.org. The goal is 25,000 signatures.
The petition was launched on April 30 by several former employees who say they are “disappointed and frustrated” by the way they have been treated over the last two years by the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Dominica, all of whom are the major shareholders of LIAT, which has been an essential airline serving the Caribbean
They have called on the respective leaders of these territories to bring about a resolution to their longstanding issues.
The workers lost their jobs when the airline closed, and many are still owed vacation pay and severance.
“These shareholders whose Prime Ministers Mia Amor Mottley, Ralph Gonsalves, Gaston Browne, and Roosevelt Skerrit have left approximately600 former airline workerswho would have served the Caribbean region to suffer since 2020 when a decision was made to liquidate the company. The company was operating in a bankrupt state for well over a decade. All four Governments mentioned above are signatories to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention.”
“Over the past two years, it has been disastrous for many who are former employees of the LIAT 1974 Ltd. airline who have put blood, sweat, tears, finances, and health on the line to ensure the people of the Caribbean were able to connect freely with their friends, and family members, as well as to conduct business activities across the region.”
The affected former workers of LIAT 1974 limited are hoping the petition will force the shareholder governments to “do what is morally and legally right so that the former staff of the island-hopping airline would be able to receive the severance and other outstanding entitlements legally owed to them, and continue to support their famiies.”