New deadline for BWIA workers Trinidad Guardian Employees of BWIA have been given a new deadline of January 31 to make labour concessions of US$300,000 a month or face "less employee-friendly means to achieve these savings". BWIA spokesman Clint Williams says the airline has until January 31 to come up with a plan to save a total of US$1.4 million to qualify for further financial assistance from the State. Asked whether the airline was considering the sale of its duty-free shops, Williams said in an interview, "We are not ruling out the possibility that any aspect of the airline's operations could be considered for greater efficiency." He added that BWIA was "looking for more efficient ways to do the same job function which could lead to job losses." Williams was reacting to a call by Christopher Abraham, the president of the Aviation Communication and Allied Workers Union last week for the government to renationalise BWIA. Abraham argued that privatisation had failed at BWIA and the airline should be returned to full State ownership. In his response, a letter to the Guardian editor, Williams said that it was astonishing that "after months at the bargaining table, that Abraham should only now reveal his true intent all along, namely to further weaken the airline by non cooperation and stalling of the negotiation process as the situation worsened so that the State would be forced to bail-out the airline and in so doing return it to the days when the taxpayers pockets would have to fund inefficiency and unprofitability." Williams said that privatisation for the airline had produced profits which were used to pay for the new fleet, new uniforms, develop new routes, promote a renewed international image and reputation for on-time performance. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: www.pichemas.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************