Sickout cost Bahamasair close to 1 mil. thus far

Wed, Dec 31st 2014, 11:06 AM

The two-day sickout staged by Bahamasair pilots last week cost the airline close to $1 million, Bahamasair Chairman Valentine Grimes revealed yesterday.
Grimes said the figure is expected to increase as Bahamasair is still receiving claims from those who traveled during the period that pilots refused to work.
He explained that the airline had to give refunds to some ticket holders, and had to reimburse others for connecting flights they missed as a result of the pilots' action.
Additionally, he said Bahamasair had to pay for passengers who were flying domestically to travel on other airlines, in addition to overtime pay for Bahamasair workers.
"The exercise would have cost the airline directly and indirectly close to $1 million," Grimes said. "That being the case, the question is, could the airline afford any increase in remuneration with respect to the pilots over the next three years? There's a prevailing view that we cannot."
The Bahamasair board met yesterday to discuss whether it could agree to the pilots' request for a salary increase.
Grimes said the board will then make recommendations to the minister with responsibility for Bahamasair, Philip Brave Davis.
In its proposal to the government, the Bahamas Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) is demanding what would effectively amount to a seven percent increase over a five-year period (2013-2017), according to a document The Nassau Guardian obtained.
Bahamasair's proposal would increase the salaries of captains and first officers by 3.7 percent over five years.
Davis indicated in a statement on Sunday that, that offer might now be off the table.
The pilots staged the sickout during one of the airline's busiest periods. The pilots' actions resulted in massive flight delays last week.
Grimes said the situation should not have happened.
"It was an unfortunate sequence of events that caused tremendous embarrassment to Bahamasair and The Bahamas and we hope in the future, better thinking will prevail," he said.
Based on Bahamasair's salary scale, Dash 8 first officers make between $34,070 and $49,370 and first officers of jets make between $47,209 and $65,209.
Pilots of the Dash 8 make between $63,646 and $91,246 a year and jet captains make $98,316 to $131,916.
In addition, jet captains reportedly earn approximately $25,000 in overtime and Dash 8 captains earn $12,000 to $15,000 in overtime.
Davis said Bahamasair is "no longer an essential service".
He suggested that industrial action by those pilots lit a fire under the government to rid itself of Bahamasair completely.
Davis also referred to the salaries of Bahamasair pilots, which he said are "well in excess of their regional counterparts," even though they actually fly much less.
He called the pilots' action "unprovoked and unwarranted," and even "unlawful".

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian

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