SOME 53 former employees of the embattled air carrier, Fly Jamaica, who attended a meeting to which they were summoned at the Ministry of Labour, Brickdam headquarters, left the venue, a very disappointed group, that they were told nothing regarding new developments.

The meeting, at which the media was excluded, was held in the upper flat, as the ministry’s boardroom on the ground floor was unavailable.

Before the meeting concluded, staffers were observed leaving but had an obviously disappointed look etched on their faces, even as they sought to avoid the media representatives. However, a visibly agitated, but a vocal Teasha Corbin, who had functioned as a Senior Cabin Crew member with the airline, expressed her disappointment that the meeting was called with the staff and not a single person from Fly Jamaica’s administration was present.
Fly Jamaica had in its employ about 300 persons, she said.

According to Corbin, who was in the employ of the airline for six years, the staffers, when summoned, were of the impression that Labour Minister Keith Scott would have met with them and would have had some positive news relating to help for the company and the monies that were owed to them by the airline.

Instead, she said two male Labour Ministry employees who briefed the former staffers claimed that the Ministry had “no proper knowledge of the whole issue at hand.”

Corbin questioned that with the November 8, 2018 issue of Fly Jamaica at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport being public knowledge, both locally and international, after several months have elapsed, “that this Ministry is saying to Fly Jamaica employees that they have no knowledge, really, or no understanding of the matter at hand.”

“So really I don’t know where we (are) at, I am very disappointed, I am truly, truly, disappointed. When this government came in, Fly Jamaica was there all the way, through different support and now the government, I can say to you is not giving Fly Jamaica no support, neither to the ordinary Guyanese citizens, the employees. Hundreds of us are out of jobs, we have children, we have jobs, we have all sorts of expenses, and to date, not even one help from the Ministry, and to tell us today, June 11, that you have no knowledge, really, of the matter at hand.”

Questioned further, Corbin said they were told by the ministry’s representatives that they were seeking to get statements “ to probably take the matter to court, ” adding that from her knowledge employees, even from the security section, had made complaints, reports and given statements from the inception.

“I am from the Inflight Section and we have and still are patient with Fly Jamaica,” she said, but took umbrage with the Labour Ministry for summoning them to a meeting to discuss an issue of which they claimed to have no knowledge. “I mean what a waste of time,” she remarked.

Corbin said that following the crash they remained in contact with the airline, and being cabin crew were still on a roster, but as reserve in the event the airline and operation had gotten a charter, efforts she said they were aware the administration were making. However, nothing materalised and on March 31, she officially received a termination letter. She claimed to have seen, though, via social media a copy of the termination via social media that was issued to all the employees by the company.
She said the last payment she received from Fly Jamaica was November 2018.

Asked what would be her next step seeing there appears to be no resolution, Corbin could not say, but, appealed to the President and Government of Guyana to lend some assistance to the airline and its employees. On this point, though, she noted that the Minister of Labour’s interest is in the employees submitting statements, as they have indicated that they want to take the matter to court.
Another staffer who preferred not to be named remarked “This whole issue is ridiculous, we need our monies, we have expenses, some of us loans to repay either the bank or to people from whom we borrowed so as to survive.”

Gina Mc Calmey, a former Flight Services Supervisor, expressed her disappointment at the outcome of the meeting, in that it appears that the Ministry is now seeking to make contact with the relevant airline officials to obtain statements and possibly start a process.

Prior to issuing the redundancy letters to staff members, an indication that the airline may fold up, it had announced its intention to restart flight operations within a few months.
In the letter, signed by the airline’s Chairman and CEO, Ronald Reece, a Guyanese, the company stated that due to the lack of aircraft and the impact this has had on the company’s financial position, it had no other alternative but to make all employees redundant, effective March 31, 2019.

The airline has been refunding passengers who had booked flights prior to the accident, but that process has also been slow.

Fly Jamaica began operations in Guyana, on the Georgetown/New York route, at a time when Guyanese were experiencing difficulties due to the exorbitant fares and bad service from foreign-based and fly-by-night charters.