Caribbean Airlines (CAL) pilots, with limited options to protest against the company’s management over a pay dispute, resorted to a billboard to dramatise their frustration, the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian newspaper reported at the weekend.

The Trinidad and Tobago Airline Pilots’ Association (TTALPA) said it had erected the billboard on BWIA Boulevard, near the Piarco International Airport, because pilots are categorised as essential workers “which limits their ability to take certain industrial actions”.

“This billboard is a means of raising public awareness about our situation,” Timothy Bailey, the pilots union’s industrial relations consultant was quoted as saying. “It is an ‘innovative’ and ‘creative’ way of expressing the pilots’ dissatisfaction with the handling of their concerns over unresolved salary issues and delayed collective bargaining negotiations,” the Guardian said.

The dispute stems from unpaid salary increases approved by Minister of Finance Colm Imbert on October 30, 2024 covering the periods 2015-2020 and 2020-2023.

The collective agreement signed for 2015-2020 CAL has not been fully honoured and no progress has been made on the 2020-2023 period, the union complained.

“The company has not prioritised addressing the second period, leaving pilots and the union with no choice but to refer the matter to the Ministry of Labour,” Bailey said, adding that the finance ministry had not yet responded with conciliation dates to facilitate discussions between the parties.

“We are appealing to both Caribbean Airlines management and the Ministry of Labour to treat this matter with the urgency it deserves. Pilots’ duties are essential, but so too is the need for fair treatment and timely resolution of their industrial issues,” said Bailey.

The newspaper said, when contacted for comments, Caribbean Airlines head of corporate communications, Dionne Ligoure, would only say that “negotiations between the airline and union are ongoing and the company continues to operate in good faith”.