Do not expect easy travelling or smiling faces this weekend at the Piarco International Airport and the Arthur NR Robinson International Airport. Employees of the Civil Aviation Authority and Airports Authority of T&T (AATT) are being encouraged to show their dissatisfaction with management's failure to pursue their job evaluation implementation. Public Services Association (PSA) president Watson Duke said he could not guarantee the airports "would be working well this weekend." Workers covered by the PSA include air traffic controllers and technical/engineering staff.
He was speaking yesterday at a news conference held at the PSA headquarters, Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain. Duke said there would be "an open display of unhappiness" by workers this weekend. He said employees were demanding their job evaluations be implemented to adjust salaries in keeping with market rates. Duke said the boards of both the Civil Aviation Authority and the AATT had agreed to implement the evaluations.
He said the boards then received directives from the Ministry of Finance to hold off on the implementation. Duke criticised Finance Minister Winston Dookeran for "squeezing the money bag too tight" and refusing to pay workers their just dues.