On Monday, a top government minister from Trinidad and Tobago said that “a handful of persons” were to blame for the fact that Caribbean Airlines (CAL), which is owned by the government, had to cancel dozens of flights on Sunday. The flights were on domestic, regional, and international routes.
CAL said in a statement late Monday night that over 60 foreign and domestic flights had to be canceled because pilots had called in sick.
At the opening of a community center in Cascade, near the capital, Energy and Energy Industries Minister Stuart Young told the crowd that the “complete shutdown of our national airline” had been done by “a handful, a literal handful of people who thought that was the way to treat citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.”
“You have to realize that as an airline, we have a very large number of international customers, and when you trace that back, it’s all about entitlement,” said Young. “There is a limited pot, which is the treasury, and there are so many people who need to be cared for, like the young and the old.”
The Industrial Court of Trinidad and Tobago gave CAL an ex-parte injunction on Monday. This means that the Trinidad and Tobago Airline Pilots Association (TTALPA) and its members can’t take industrial action under the Industrial Relations Act, such as calling in sick as a group.
The ruling also told TTALPA to tell its members to report to work right away as scheduled and needed as part of their normal jobs with the airline.
The Industrial Court said that its orders should stay in place “until further order” and that the application for the ex-party injunction should be “returnable on the 28th day of September, 2023, at 9.30 o’clock.”
CAL said that some domestic and foreign flights “are still affected, and our dedicated Reservations Service Centre is working hard to get in touch with all affected customers.”
“Because of how it affected our customers, Caribbean Airlines moved quickly to get back on its feet. It looked for alternatives and rented charters to get the passengers on its foreign and regional routes to their destinations. By adding a special ferry sailing to and from Tobago, the Port of Port of Spain helped the airline’s local operations.
There were stories in the news that the airline’s workers had gone on strike after wage talks broke down.
But TTAPA denied that there was a sick out or strike, saying, “We are not aware of any strike action by the pilot body.”
The association said that Section 67(2) of the Industrial Relations Act, Chapter 88:01 says that the pilot body and its members can’t do this kind of strike because any employer or worker who provides an important service can’t do a strike.
TTAPA told the people that “its members will keep flying with their safety and best interests in mind.”
Young, who is also a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, told the ceremony that taxpayers had decided to keep Caribbean Airlines going “in the last few years, especially during the COVID period, when airlines were one of the most affected industries in the world.”
He said that the government had given Caribbean Airlines money that was hard to get because we thought it was important to keep a national airline running.
“Citizens, let’s not fall into those traps because we should always think about the people around us and not just look at what’s right in front of us,” Young said.