MONTEGO BAY, St James - A protest by frontline workers employed to All Jamaica Air Services (AJAS) yesterday led to delays at the Sangster International Airport.
Yesterday afternoon there were unusually long lines at several airline check-in counters.

The workers walked off the job in protest over what they claimed was 'unsatisfactory' representation from the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU).

"We are still operating but we are experiencing some delays," said Elizabeth Scotton, MBJ Airports Limited's director of marketing and communications.

More than 100 of the 317 AJAS workers, employed as customer service agents, ramp attendants, cargo handlers and aircraft cleaners for several airlines at Sangster International, left their posts yesterday and did not return until late evening after top AJAS officials met with them.

Scotton told the Observer that ground handlers from Air Jamaica and other airlines had to double up yesterday to minimise delays at the airport, after the placard-bearing employees walked off the job and staged a noisy protest outside the airport's departure lounge.

The workers said they wanted a change of union from the BITU as they were dissatisfied with the level of representation they had been receiving.

BITU delegate, Devon Black, said the workers, many of whom took home as little as $24,000 monthly, had requested the change of union representation, but said they were told that there were not enough workers supporting the move.
It was the second time in recent months that operations at Sangster International were being disrupted.

In November last year, 150 unionised workers at the airport staged two days of protest.

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