Two-tongue Aleong - pilots By NADINE HOSEIN T'dad Guardian BWIA officials have decided to keep a low profile until the conciliatory talks with the Trinidad Airline Pilots Association (Talpa) and the Ministry of Labour is resolved. While the airline abstained from responding on the progress of the meetings, Talpa members feel the airline's CEO Conrad Aleong is not acting in good faith towards the pilots and their grievances. The airline has been in talks with Talpa for the last week concerning scheduling and other problems affecting the pilots. The Ministry of Labour has been acting as mediator. Talpa said the Ministry asked them to refrain from holding a media conference until the talks were completed. However, Aleong held discussions with the media regarding the issue on Tuesday morning. "The Ministry requested Talpa refrain, in the national interest, from inflaming an already chaotic situation by holding a press conference," the union stated. Chairman of Talpa, Captain Edward Goddard, said no progress has been made thus far with the talks. The association has not been given any feedback from the airline, but they continue to wait, he said. Talpa also stated good faith has been shown by the Ministry to help resolve the situation, but they feel BWIA is not willing to see the pilot's side of the matter. "Talpa feels there has been a positive and responsible approach to solving the problems by the Ministers and the Ministry officials involved. It cannot, in good faith, say the same of BWIA," the union said. The airline has been plagued by a series of cancellations and delays within the last few weeks. It has also had to face losses amounting to over $58 million since September 11. The airline attributed the latest loss of $6 million to the current problems with the recent delays and cancellations. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (TnT Medical Assn.) http://www.tntmedical.com/ (Trinidad & Tobago Medical Association) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************