The Trinidad and Tobago Airline Pilots Association (TTALPA) is yet to issue an official response to Finance Minister Colm Imbert’s offer to resolve ongoing salary negotiations.

The Express contacted TTALPA president Captain Larry Imamshah yesterday for a response, but he said the association was yet to meet to discuss the matter.

Imamshah explained that the pilots were unable to meet earlier due to their work schedules, but the association is working to organize a meeting for its members.

On Wednesday, Imbert authorized Caribbean Airlines to settle ongoing wage negotiations with TTALPA with a 4 percent increase, followed by an additional 4 percent increase for the next bargaining period.

“Having carefully considered this dispute and in the interest of good industrial relations, the Minister of Finance today authorized Caribbean Airlines to settle the period from September 2015 to August 2020 with TTALPA through a 4% salary increase and to offer pilots extra pay. “A 4% increase in salaries for the next negotiation period, that is to say the period from September 2020 to August 2023,” Imbert said in a press release released on Wednesday around 6:09 p.m.

This was the second statement issued by Imbert on the situation that day.

The first was a three-page statement issued at 1:47 p.m., hours after CAL pilots staged a peaceful protest outside the Eric Williams Financial Complex in Port of Spain.

Imbert acknowledged that some information provided in this press release was inaccurate.

“Following a previous press release on this subject, Caribbean Airlines has just informed the Minister of Finance that while the figures the airline provided to him for public release regarding pilot salaries were correct, the figure for pilot compensation provided by CAL was incorrect. It is expected that CAL will promptly correct this inaccuracy,” Imbert said.

On Wednesday around 11 a.m., off-duty pilots, dressed in their uniforms and carrying signs, held their third peaceful picket of the month. The pilots returned that day to the Eric Williams Financial Complex in Port of Spain, where two weeks earlier they had delivered a letter to Imbert, which owns Caribbean Airlines.

At the protest, TTALPA administrator Keith Dowdy told reporters yesterday that their concerns had increased. He stressed that Caribbean Airlines had invested heavily in its expansion, adding that for this move, the support of pilots was necessary. “We want to support the airline; we are soil patriots and we would like to see the problem solved,” Dowdy said.

Pilots expressed frustration over a nine-year unresolved negotiation and a demand for a 4 percent pay increase.

In its first statement, Imbert said it had “noted ongoing protest action by Caribbean Airlines Ltd pilots regarding salary negotiations for the period 2015 to 2020”.

Furthermore, the Minister wishes to reaffirm the Government’s commitment to ensuring the conclusion of fair, equitable and reasonable collective agreements in the best interest of all stakeholders, while taking into account the economic realities of the country, particularly the financial situation current Caribbean Airlines.

“However, it is necessary to remind TTALPA, pilots and the general public that while CAL may be heading towards operational profit, which is commendable, it is a fact that over the past nine years, the Ministry of Finance took over CAL’s debts and debt service obligations.

“The ministry therefore covers a significant portion of the CAL’s annual expenses.

“Over the last four years in particular, the Ministry of Finance has provided the airline with multi-billion dollars of financial support in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Furthermore, the Ministry of Finance continues to subsidize the airline to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars per year. Just two months ago, the ministry paid for a replacement engine for CAL’s Max-8 fleet, costing the ministry $18 million, or TT$122 million. This was an unbudgeted expenditure, for which the ministry had to scramble to find the required funding, but it did so because of the importance of the CAL to the country,” he said .

—Sherlan Ramsubhag