The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

LABOUR Minister Shane Gibson said yesterday the government is looking at how it can legally recover over $1m from the Bahamasair pilots who participated in an “illegal sick out” last month.

Mr Gibson told The Tribune that negotiations with the Bahamas Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) have resumed, however he said the government has made it clear that there will be repercussions for the pilots’ actions to ensure “this does not happen again”.

Just before Christmas, dozens of Bahamasair pilots failed to report for work, leaving thousands of travellers, foreign and domestic, stranded in New Providence and Florida.

The pilots staged the “sick out” after representatives from BALPA reportedly “walked out of a meeting” with the government over contract negotiations.

“We met with them on Monday and it has been going well,” Mr Gibson said.

“We are highlighting to them how much money they cost us based on their industrial action,” Mr Gibson said. “The thing is it was over $1m that they cost us, not to mention the damage to our reputation. Even though they said they were sick, they were well enough to call their affiliates at other airlines, who in turn refused to provide airlift to and from the Bahamas. They withdrew their services and shut Bahamasair down; the question also now is do we invest tens of millions of dollars into this airline and into these people? How do we move on?”

Mr Gibson also said the airline has to recoup the money lost and management is looking into getting it from the pilots themselves or the association.

“We had to pay out all this money, (it) stopped us from making money but they want to ask us for money? Where do they think we are going to get this money? They want increases, but they cost us more than $1m. How do you get paid when you withdraw your labour and we can prove that you were not sick? So the government is looking at whether or not they can legally recover that money from the pilots or the association. We are exploring that. Management is going to have to cut them and try to recover any money lost as a result of their illegal work stoppage.”

Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said he has given directives on what he “expects to occur” regarding the punitive fates of the Bahamasair pilots.

At the New Year’s Day Junkanoo Parade, Mr Davis told The Tribune he stands by his previous statement on the matter and that he is not prepared to “allow the Bahamian people to contribute much further to maintaining an airline whose employees are not prepared to work with the government”.