No flight information was posted and air traffic controllers were absent on Saturday, causing a disruption in operations at Piarco International Airport. An airport employee told the T&T Guardian that while the airport was usually short-staffed on weekends, on Saturday the airport was "incredibly understaffed," as many workers stayed away from their jobs. He said staff responsible for posting flight information on the electronic boards was absent, so flight information was not posted. This resulted in mass confusion among travellers and some missed their flights.
The employee said several air traffic controllers did not report for work either, and trainees had to fill in.
On Friday, Public Services Association (PSA) president Watson Duke called on Airports Authority and Civil Aviation employees to openly "display their unhappiness" over the long weekend. The PSA represents just over 400 employees from both agencies, with the majority of employees holding technical positions. Duke had said he could not guarantee everything would be "working as it should" at the airports. He said employees are demanding that both agencies implement the results of job evaluations to adjust workers' salaries to match market rates.
Duke said management had agreed to implement the results but they later got directives from the Ministry of Finance to hold off. As a form of protest, he said, travellers could expect "manifestation of unhappiness" over the long weekend. Finance Minister Winston Dookeran had promised to deal with the implementation of workers' job evaluations, Duke said yesterday in a telephone interview. In response to disturbances at the Piarco International Airport, Dookeran contacted Duke on Saturday night.
Duke said the idea of the "display of unhappiness" was not to stop planes coming or going, but to illustrate the plight of the workers. He said Dookeran gave a commitment to address the implementation of the job evaluation results. However, Duke said he was "not trusting" Dookeran until something is done and the PSA would be "vigilant", watching all Dookeran's actions.