Duprey: BWIA was forced to cut staff BY JUHEL BROWNE Trinidad Guardian Tough times call for tough decisions at the end of the day it was Lawrence= =20 Duprey, chairman of the BWIA board of directors, who had the final say at=20 the airline in approving its 617 staff cuts and phasing out of its=20 maintenance and other departments. It was a decision, Duprey said Tuesday,= =20 by that he had no choice but to make given BWIA present financial dilemma.= =20 After all, BWIA Chief Executive Officer Conrad Aleong and his management=20 team can only lawfully do what the airline=92s board permits them to do. =93= A=20 new business model incorporating the appropriate methods is the only option= =20 available to BWIA,=94 said Duprey. =93The board of directors therefore= directed=20 management to design a new business plan, not just to save the airline but= =20 to make it more competitive and sustainably profitable once and for all,=20 and most importantly to improve shareholder value.=94 Duprey was reading from a prepared text during a live television broadcast= =20 Tuesday night from the Chamber of Commerce building in Westmoorings. His=20 tone was sombre but assertive, near the end of a day that would have left=20 many of his employees in darkness of uncertainty that comes with each=20 retrenchment notice. =93In short unless BWIA cost come down quick and=20 drastically it will fail and soon. We cannot let that happen,=94 said= Duprey.=20 =93BWIA requires either a bailout which is not an option or it must take the= =20 tough decision expected of a publicly traded private sector company that=20 will fix its business and return shareholder value.=94 Last December alone,= =20 Duprey noted, investors poured about US$9 million into BWIA =97 =93Many of= them=20 are individuals with few financial resources.=94 They, and all of the=20 investors in BWIA are yet to receive any returns on their investments since= =20 the airline became a private company in 1995. Duprey, who last September said he would offer his shares in BWIA to anyone= =20 who felt they could do a better job at managing the cash-strapped airline,= =20 exerted his authority during his speech. Lawful authority he said, was his= =20 to exercise. =93The law requires the board of directors to seek the best=20 interest of the company in so doing the director must take into account the= =20 interest of employees and shareholders,=94 Duprey said. =93Our efforts have= =20 directed towards an employee friendly approach, unfortunately without=20 success. Regaining shareholder value is now of paramount importance.=94 *************************************************** 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 *********************************************************