ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, Jan 8, CMC – The Antigua and Barbuda Workers Union (ABWU) Wednesday criticised the government over what it termed “the latest attempt” to impose a “significantly reduced severance settlement” to former employees of the bankrupt airline, LIAT (1974) Limited.
The union said that the Gaston Browne administration’s latest attempt to impose on the workers, a significantly reduced severance settlement of 32 per cent “is a stark betrayal of its proclaimed commitment to workers as a so-called “labour” government.
“If this Government truly valued the contribution of LIAT workers to the country and to regional aviation it would have ensured that at the very least, Antiguan workers receive 100 per cent of their severance.
“Instead, they have failed to take leadership in this matter and have disgracefully abandoned their own citizens. Meanwhile, the Government of Barbados – the largest LIAT shareholder – began making its final payments to their workers in 2024, and the St. Lucian Government has also satisfied their workers’ right to severance,” the ABWU said.
Last week, the government said it had made the first installment of the LIAT Employees Compassionate Payment Bond, which had since been been transferred to BDO Eastern Caribbean for distribution to the eligible former LIAT employees.
(Details in Business section)
CMC/2025