Air Jamaica, Pilots Agreement Gives the Airline Some New Air

The battle between the Jamaica Airline Pilots Association (JALPA) and the management of Air Jamaica came to an end after the union agreed to a three-year agreement that would result in a 30 per cent reduction in salaries and allowances.

As a result of this agreement, the 180 pilots who were facing redundancy would now be able to keep their jobs and plans are being formulated to re-employ the 40 pilots whose positions were recently laid off.

The signing of the agreement was witnessed by Prime Minister PJ Patterson, representatives of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.

Under a 34-point agreement, the pilots have agreed to a 5.6 per cent cut in their basic salary, in terms of overtime, time and a half will be paid after 80 hours, instead of the previous 72 hours per month.

The pilots would no longer receive overtime while on vacation and sick

leave and meal and midnight duty allowances were also cut.

The role of the ALPA has also been modified. Under the agreement, the

airline can now hire new pilots without referring to JALPA.

Air Jamaica has also reserved the right to operate open flights instead of JALPA, and this would lead to a reduction in overtime costs, said JALPA President Captain Ludlow Beckford.

Air Jamaica´s management had been seeking concessions of US$12 million from its pilots, who accounted for 30 per cent of the airline´s wage bill of US$100 million.

Air Jamaica was returned to the government last December having accumulated US$800 million in liability during the 10 years of private ownership.