Lalor surprised at pilot outrage

Debbie-Ann Wright and Monique Grange, Gleaner Writers

Chairman of Air Jamaica, Dennis Lalor, says he is surprised at the response to the news that 75 Jamaican pilots are to lose their jobs at CARIBAL Limited, the subsidiary of Caribbean Airlines.

The Jamaica Airlines’ Pilots Association announced yesterday that the positions of all the pilots are to be made redundant.

However, Lalor said the redundancy exercise should not come as a shock, as CARIBAL Limited was only intended to be a transition company.

He said from the time of the takeover of Air Jamaica by Caribbean Airlines, it was known that those positions would have eventually been integrated into the parent company.

Yesterday, it was also reported that Caribbean Airlines has said of the 75 pilots who will be sent home, only about 65 will be offered new positions at the Trinidad-based airline.

However, Lalor said he is not aware of any such limit being placed on the number of pilots to be reemployed.

Lalor said he is not aware of any plans to drop the Air Jamaica brand.

In the meantime, the National Workers Union is calling on the government, to ensure that it makes an effort to protect the rights of the 75 Jamaican pilots, who are to lose their jobs at CARIBAL Limited.

Granville Valentine, Vice president of the NWU, one of the unions which had represented Air Jamaica workers, wants the government to use its stake to bring back the operations of the airline into Jamaica.

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