Deputy General Secretary of the ABWU Chester Hughes
The Antigua and Barbuda Workers Union (ABWU) will be seeking an order from the court to force the management of Caribbean Airport Services (CAS) to cover over $2 million in severance that is owed to former workers.
Deputy General Secretary of the ABWU Chester Hughes said the workers have been suffering for more than two years and the Union is now at its wits end.
CAS provided flight support to Antigua-based Carrier LIAT and was severely affected when the company nosedived in 2020. The company remains in operation with a reduced staff.
“It is all over now we are not going to continue like this, within the next couple of days, we are going to consult with our lawyers on this matter and go straight ahead with our claims. This cannot continue, these workers cannot continue to be owed millions of dollars.
“Interest is building up and we said to the company to pay some amount or give the workers $500 per week, something to liquidate the amount and not up to now. Persons who were owed $1,500 in severance is not owed between $3,000 or $4,000 because of the interest building up by law,” Hughes said.
Hughes explained that several people have died without receiving their monies despite interventions from the union for the funds to be handed over to family members.
He also added that the union has reached out to the group of workers on several occasions but to no avail.
Hughes argued that while Prime Minister Gaston Browne has given lip service to LIAT nothing has been said of CAS which is not in liquidation.
“CAS is a subsidiary of LIAT the Prime Minister has never addressed the situation with these workers. They are like a forgotten child.
The union took a similar approach back in 2021 when it sought the court’s permission to sell lands belonging to Jolly Beach Corporations to satisfy outstanding debts owed to former employees.
Those are the same workers who had voted the Gaston Browne administration back into government on January 18, 2023. The problem with Antiguan people they don’t love and believe in change. A lot of Antiguans live in Canada 🇨🇦, North America, and England, (just to name a few countries), and they do adopt to the changes that take place in those countries. We who still live here at home travel to these countries often and enjoy the changes there every time we visit, so why not make and adjust to the changes back home? The ABLP government has not done anything for the 10 years they’re in government to make life better for all Antiguans, not just a few people, all the Antiguans. We need a change of government and we should have done it on January 18, 2023.