Pay raise for GAIA employees

Workers at Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) will have a few more dollars to spend due to a 4.5 per cent increase in salaries and wages from this month.

In a memo addressed to all staff last Wednesday, GAIA’s Acting Chief Executive Officer Terry Layne announced that negotiations were finalised with the workers’ bargaining agent, the National Union of Public Workers, following a meeting held on Monday.

The agreement outlined workers would receive a 4.5 per cent increase effective from January 1, 2018; the adjustment would be made to salaries effective January 2020 pay date; and that the retroactive pay for the period January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2019 would be paid in two instalments – the first in April 2020, and the final payment made no later than the August 2020 pay date.

Layne then extended his thanks to the staff for their patience during the negotiation period.

However, one GAIA employee told The Barbados Advocate that while he was happy some adjustment had been made, the five per cent increase given to civil servants by the Mia Mottley administration in 2018, should also have been granted to the airport’s staff.

“In a meeting with the Prime Minister at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, we were told to hold strain because of the economic situation, even though the airport was making millions in profits and we did it. We were offered a one per cent raise at that time, which was humiliating, considering all government employees were given a five per cent raise, but since the airport personnel are still up in limbo as to whether we are government workers or not, we did not get it. Now to come and settle for 4.5 per cent, when the cost of living has gone up, including bus fares, does not sit right with me,” he stated.

Another employee said, “At this point I am grateful that we get something because every little bit helps, because right now bus fares hurting me bad. So I am thankful for the little raise.”

One worker, who has almost two decades in service, highlighted, “We didn’t get the five per cent, but something better than nothing cause I have some outstanding bills to clear and the money would come just in time for me to get my house in order.”