The Trinidad and Tobago Airline Pilots’ Association (TTALPA) has issued a call to its members to report for duty once medically fit.
This follows an injunction which was sought by Caribbean Airline (CAL) after 75 out of 217 pilots called in sick on Sunday, causing chaos as close to 60 flights had to be cancelled.
As part of the injunction, TTALPA was ordered to instruct its members to report for duty as rostered.
In a communiqué sent to its members yesterday morning, TTALPA informed its members of the injunction.
“As you may be aware, at 7.27 pm on Sunday, August 20, 2023, we were officially informed that CAL had filed an ex-parte injunction against TTALPA, and its members and an emergency hearing took place at 7.30 pm for allegedly taking industrial action. One of our attorneys was able to join during the course of the emergency hearing of these proceedings and indicated to the honourable Court that time was needed to get instructions and to respond to CAL’s claims,” the communiqué stated.
It then instructed members who are medically fit, “to adhere to their rostered flights”, and “comply with company policies related to medication and obtain a fit to fly after illness”.
TTALPA told members that it “does not encourage or support any industrial action by any of its members employed in essential service”.
In its release on Sunday, CAL noted that it is currently in negotiations with the association over a collective agreement for the period 2015-2018.
According to a GML report, a group of pilots wrote to the media house concerned over some of the company’s offers and stated that pilots’ morale was at “an all-time low”.
Among the items in the latest offer the pilots say they do not support, are what would amount to a pay cut, the removal of financial benefits from the current collective agreement, which they said are currently being contested at the Industrial Court, and a policy discouraging pilots from upgrading to a higher rank or moving to a different aircraft.