No-show by fire fighters
affects airport operations
~ 12 flights delayed, hundreds of passengers affected ~
AIRPORT--Operations at Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) slowed to a snail’s pace for some time on Monday after an undisclosed number of fire fighters stayed away from work, leaving only a skeletal staff manning the operations.
The fire protection level of the airport was affected due to the Rescue and Fire Fighting personnel not reporting to work. As a result of this situation the fire protection was insufficient in the morning hours to execute normal aircraft operations. Some 12 flights were delayed and one flight was cancelled, affecting hundreds of passengers scheduled to fly on Monday morning.
The no-show was sparked by an incident on Friday that resulted in a fire fighter being dismissed for failing to carry out a task assigned to him. He reportedly was told by his superior that he was being fired as “an example” to other fire fighters, a decision he is contesting and one his union – United Federation of the Windward Antilles UFA – has condemned.
The fire fighter reportedly was asked to perform some work on an engine on one of the fire trucks that had caught fire twice.
He declined to perform the task on the grounds that he was not skilled in that area and was only supposed to function as a fire fighter.
UFA advisor Willy Haize said Monday that the department had been wrong to ask the fire fighter to perform the task of a mechanic.
Haize said too that the fire truck in question had a lot of mechanical problems that management had taken no action to fix in the past.
“The worker (name provided) told the manager (name provided) that he was not qualified to do the work on the engine of the truck and he was fired for that,” Haize said. “The worker was threatened and told he cannot refuse work and if he did not fix the engine he would be fired and made an example to the other workers.”
“What the worker was asked to do was not simple like servicing. He was asked to check an engine. To do this you have to be a qualified mechanic,” Haize argued. “What would have happened if the engine blew up?”
He also said the Fire Department Head had refused to discuss the matter with the union or its representatives at the Department.
Said Haize: “This whole thing was a set up because we are now negotiating for a new Collective Labour Agreement (CLA) and management is using scare tactics against the workers.”
The Daily Herald understands that the worker is contesting his dismissal. Government Mediator Kenneth Lopes confirmed that he had had a meeting with the dismissed worker. He said too that the department was collecting information from management. Lopes said he wouldn’t be able to make a pronouncement on the matter until he had heard all sides.
“We received the complaint from the employee and we are busy discussing with the airport authorities,” Lopes said.
In a press release issued Monday, PJIA operating company PJIAE stated that following some measures, the level of fire protection had been raised to category 7, allowing for limited aircraft operations as of 8:45am. Category 7 means that planes up to the size of a Boeing 737 can land or take off, PJIAE president Eugene Holiday told this newspaper.
These developments resulted in 12 delayed flights and an American Eagle flight scheduled to have taken off at 9:45am yesterday being cancelled. The 7:00am American eagle flight was delayed and took off at 9:00am. American Airlines Country Manager Michael Cleaver said the operations had been back to normal in the afternoon.
Winair Senior Flight Operation Manager Elvis Queeley informed this newspaper that a total of 11 flights had been delayed in the morning. “The flights had hour-and-a-half delays. However, no flights were cancelled.” The situation had returned to normal by 2:30pm, he said.
However, unconfirmed reports indicated that more that 12 flights had been delayed with at least one Caribbean Airlines and three LIAT flights also affected.
The Insel Air and the Dutch Antilles Express (DAE) flights from Curaçao came in and left again on time.
Meanwhile, according to Holiday, “At 11:15am the fire protection level was restored to the normal level, level 9, and operations at the airport continued as normal.”
