BWIA asks for shorter vacation, less sick leave By NADINE HOSEIN Trindad Guardian BWIA is asking its workers to take a cut in their vacation and sick leave as part of the restructuring of the company. The heads of both unions for the airline, CATU and ACAWU, confirmed yesterday that employees met with BWIA's top management to discuss the requested concessions. "The requests were made verbally. We have not been given any written document on them. We are supposed to get this soon," said Raymond Small, president of CATU. Christopher Abraham, head of ACAWU, said the meeting was very cordial and the unions requested the concessions be put in writing. "They are asking for a reduction in sick leave, vacation time, for overtime to be paid at regular rates, a reduction in shift premium and for a reduction in the time flight attendants spend off base," said Abraham. The unions plan to hold a meeting with all employees on Wednesday to inform them of the final decision on the concessions. Prior to the general meeting, Abraham said they will be individual talks with various groups from Monday. In a press conference last week, CEO Conrad Aleong said the airline needs to save US$1 million per month in order to survive. The concessions are one of the measures being used. Other measures include a reduction in fleets and retrenchment of some 40 Dash-8 pilots. 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: (ReadyMix) http://www.readymix.co.tt/ (ReadyMix Cement Ltd) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************