ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Antigua & Barbuda Workers Union (ABWU), bargaining agents for the 117 Caribbean Airlines Services (CAS) workers will be meeting with management today following a sick-out by workers yesterday.
ABWU General Secretary David Massiah told OBSERVER media CAS management and employees have long been at an impasse over negotiations for a new collective agreement.
“We were not satisfied with the positions that were put forward by the company and we have responded, and they have responded likewise. So it has been a counter and back-and-forth,” he said.
Antigua and Barbuda
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua - The financial woes of LIAT and Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL) featured in the news this past week.
St. John’s Antigua- An official of the Antigua & Barbuda Hotel Training Institute (ABHTI) yesterday promised to consider placing more emphasis on sustainable tourism after attending a Caribbean Tourism Organisation conference in Trinidad & Tobago. Ercil Charles Jr, head of academic affairs at ABHTI told OBSERVER media the institution has always placed emphasis on sustainable tourism education, but added, however that specialised area could take on more prominence in the classroom.
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua - St. John’s Antigua- Last week, news broke that masked gunmen had robbed a group of cruise ship tourist in St Lucia. Apparently, a bus tour of the Soufriere Botanical Gardens turned into a nightmare scenario when their bus was hijacked by three masked men who proceed to threaten and frighten the tourists while robbing them of their valuables. This incident follows closely on the heels of another shocking incident in Barbados where two British tourists were shot. Like the St Lucian incident, this was a brazen act.
St. John’s Antigua- National Security Minister Dr Errol Cort has suggested Regional Security Systems (RSS) member states pool resources to strengthen the RSS Air Wing to help clamp down on the burgeoning drug trade and influx of guns into the region. He told OBSERVER media, “I don’t believe that it would be useful at this point for individual RSS countries to try setting up their own aircraft capacity.
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua - It is very difficult not to be impressed and humbled by the reaction of Bostonians to the bombings that ripped lives and limbs apart on their marathon day.
The scenes on Boston’s streets on Monday have echoes of things that happen with awful frequency on the streets of Syria or Iraq. Yet Boston’s poise, humanity and calm amid the shock are all the more noteworthy, because no one, rationally, could have prepared themselves for such an attack against such a target.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua - A regional cricket historian has cautioned concerned groups in Antigua & Barbuda to revamp the cricket museum or risk having important artifacts wither away. Stephen Almandos of Trinidad & Tobago is referring to the former property of convicted fraudster Allen Stanford, the Sticky Wicket Cricket Museum/Hall of Fame, which tumbled along with the rest of the ex-billionaires empire.
WASHINGTON, CMC – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it is making available more than US$10 million to Antigua and Barbuda after completing review of the island’s economic performance under a three-year Stand By Arrangement (SBA) indicating also that the economy is showing signs of gradual recovery after three years of being stagnant.
The IMF said it had also approved a waiver of non-observance of the continuous performance criterion on external arrears.
crime ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – The Antigua and Barbuda government says it will extend by a further 90 days the operations of a special task force to deal with serious crimes, especially those that involved the use of firearms. National Security Minister Dr. Errol Cort said that notwithstanding the success of the force in recent days, “its task is still unfinished.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Former Antigua & Barbuda Prime Minister Lester Bird believes that the late Margaret Thatcher was most befitting of the tag “Iron Lady” – a name she got for the way she operated as Britain’s prime minister. He told OBSERVER Radio that while she influenced world politics significantly, Britain’s past PM was very instrumental in retaining apartheid in South Africa.