Monday, November 07, 2011

St Lucia: Union wants audit of LIAT airline

The head of one of the ten trade unions representing workers at regional airline, Liat, has called on the three major shareholder governments to launch an audit into operations at the carrier.

The head of the National Workers Union of St. Lucia says the audit is needed amidst claims of financial mismanagement at the company. Lawrence Poyette says given all the allegations and all the statements that have been made regarding indiscretions in the operations of Liat, he’s of the opinion that the shareholders should conduct a serious audit, bearing in mind that monies belonging to the consolidated funds of the respective countries are involved.

Mr. Poyette also accused the airline’s management of fuelling rather than quelling conflict between itself and workers and called on Liat to engage in dialogue rather than pass out letters of termination. Last week, the trade unions turned down the airline’s invitation for talks to discuss possible job cuts. They said they would not be discussing the mass termination of Liat employees as an isolated matter.

The union groups instead opted to attend a meeting of the cash-strapped regional carrier’s shareholders governments with its board of directors. Earlier this year, Liat closed its city ticketing offices, reducing the number of employees by forty eight. But the company said it intends to reduce its total headcount by fourteen per approximately eight hundred workers by the end of this year.

Head of the National Workers Union in St. Lucia, Lawrence Poyette, is calling for an audit into the operations of regional airline, LIAT.

Poyette said the audit is needed amid claims of financial mismanagement at LIAT.

He wanted the carrier’s three major shareholder governments to investigate allegations and all the statements that have been made regarding indiscretions in the company’s operations.

Poyette is recommending that the shareholder governments put together a team of representatives of the respective audit departments to conduct a serious audit.

Meanwhile, Poyette has also accused the airline’s management of fuelling rather than quelling conflict with workers.

Last week, the trade unions turned down the airline’s invitation for talks to discuss possible job cuts, as the carrier moves to trim its workforce to 800 employees by year-end.

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