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Air J cutting 300 workers
BY STEVEN JACKSON Observer staff reporter [email protected]
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
NATIONAL Carrier Air Jamaica began laying off 300 workers yesterday in a move to reduce its staff complement by 15 per cent, a union representative told the Observer last night.
But the cuts, which this time spare the airline's flight attendants, affect mostly ground staff and pilots at the two international airports in Kingston and Montego Bay, as well as airline's head office in downtown Kingston, according to president of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), Kavan Gayle.
"The layoffs should have started today (Monday) and continue until the 30th," Gayle told the Observer last night.
He said the affected workers will be sent on leave without pay, and after a maximum 120 days will be offered a redundancy payment or re-employment.
Yesterday, Gayle said while the union was able to help save the jobs of the airline's 350 flight attendants, it was unable to do anything for the other categories of workers.
"When we saw the new business model we took immediate steps to carve out an understanding with management regarding the flight attendants but we were unable to do so for any other category of worker," he said.
The cut in staff follows a contraction of the airline's routes and fleet as part of its new business model implemented in February to avert a shutdown of the national airline which carries US$1 billion in accumulated debt.
"The layoffs are to be seen as the realignment of manpower in respect to reduction of the operations," Gayle said, adding that more cuts may follow the airline's sale. "The new owner and its staff requirements, we can't make that determination. Because no one really knows what fleet complement they will require. What we did suggest is that they should not outsource staff but utilise Air Jamaica staff."
Yesterday, Edward Miller, head of security in the Pilot's Association, said that cuts were expected but "it is still better to have pilots than to let them go".
Pilots have been among the most secure profession at the airline, but yesterday Miller was unable to say what the complement was.
Meanwhile, efforts to reach the airline's chief executive officer Bruce Nobles for a comment, were unsuccessful.
Air Jamaica last trimmed 30 staff in February after slashing eight routes, including its Miami, US hub. The airline's current schedule has 218 weekly flights to 14 destinations. The business plan projected that these measures would lead to $63 million in operating losses this year but will allow the airline to break even by next summer. The national carrier was scheduled to be divested by March, but remains unsold.
BY STEVEN JACKSON Observer staff reporter [email protected]
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
NATIONAL Carrier Air Jamaica began laying off 300 workers yesterday in a move to reduce its staff complement by 15 per cent, a union representative told the Observer last night.
But the cuts, which this time spare the airline's flight attendants, affect mostly ground staff and pilots at the two international airports in Kingston and Montego Bay, as well as airline's head office in downtown Kingston, according to president of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), Kavan Gayle.
"The layoffs should have started today (Monday) and continue until the 30th," Gayle told the Observer last night.
He said the affected workers will be sent on leave without pay, and after a maximum 120 days will be offered a redundancy payment or re-employment.
Yesterday, Gayle said while the union was able to help save the jobs of the airline's 350 flight attendants, it was unable to do anything for the other categories of workers.
"When we saw the new business model we took immediate steps to carve out an understanding with management regarding the flight attendants but we were unable to do so for any other category of worker," he said.
The cut in staff follows a contraction of the airline's routes and fleet as part of its new business model implemented in February to avert a shutdown of the national airline which carries US$1 billion in accumulated debt.
"The layoffs are to be seen as the realignment of manpower in respect to reduction of the operations," Gayle said, adding that more cuts may follow the airline's sale. "The new owner and its staff requirements, we can't make that determination. Because no one really knows what fleet complement they will require. What we did suggest is that they should not outsource staff but utilise Air Jamaica staff."
Yesterday, Edward Miller, head of security in the Pilot's Association, said that cuts were expected but "it is still better to have pilots than to let them go".
Pilots have been among the most secure profession at the airline, but yesterday Miller was unable to say what the complement was.
Meanwhile, efforts to reach the airline's chief executive officer Bruce Nobles for a comment, were unsuccessful.
Air Jamaica last trimmed 30 staff in February after slashing eight routes, including its Miami, US hub. The airline's current schedule has 218 weekly flights to 14 destinations. The business plan projected that these measures would lead to $63 million in operating losses this year but will allow the airline to break even by next summer. The national carrier was scheduled to be divested by March, but remains unsold.
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