Caribbean Airlines pilots are willing to take a further cut in salaries in order to save their jobs.
The pilots, who are members of the Trinidad and Tobago Airline Pilots’ Association (TTALPA), met recently to discuss the company’s plans to retrench between 95 and 115 pilots out of the 252 currently employed.
Gerry Pinard, head of Zatopek Solutions Inc, consultants for TTALPA, said they have requested the specifics of the financial situation from the company to assess whether retrenching workers is, in fact, necessary and to provide its own suggestions for cost-savings.
However, Pinard said they are yet to receive a response from the company.
He is baffled that the authorities are willing to spend $110 million to pay off severance, “when in two years’ time you will have to ramp back up and look for pilots again.”
Pinard told the media house that the pilots have taken a pay cut in the past and are prepared to do whatever is necessary within reason to make sure that they preserve jobs.
“Over the last eight or nine months, they agreed to 57 per cent salary sacrifices to assist CAL in reducing expenditure and surviving this situation. It now appears a lot of that have been done in vain,” he said.
TTALPA is expected to meet with CAL officials later this week.
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