Fire fighters still on no show,
says colleague’s dismissal unfair
AIRPORT--Skeletal staff continued to man the operations at Princess Juliana International Airport Fire Department on Tuesday, as the large number of rescue and fire fighting personnel stayed away from work for the second consecutive day.
The fire fighters are reportedly showing solidarity to their colleague Michael Illis who was dismissed on Friday for refusing to remove the damaged part of an engine which caught fire on two occasions earlier in the day. Illis refused to do the work on the grounds that he was not skilled in that area.
One of the Fire Fighting staff, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told this newspaper that Illis was being “taken advantage of. This is not justice.”
This newspaper understands that of the 27 rescue and fire fighting personnel working at the Department, 24 were not working. Only three persons including the supervisor were reportedly on duty Monday and Tuesday, while some seven should have been on duty.
This newspaper understands that the workers all called in sick on Monday and again on Tuesday.
“It has been advantage taking from day one as far as I am concerned,” the fire fighter said. He said some of the workers were already performing duties outside their tasks without remuneration for a long time. Some fire department personnel were even washing cars at one point but had to put their feet down when it was getting out of hand. “They were making us car washers,” he claimed.
The worker said management usually sent them to seminars that lasted a few days expecting them to return as experts in the area. “We were doing the additional work all the time but they were pushing it down our throats,” he said.
The worker said if there is a real emergency at the airport that required their intervention, he is sure that his colleagues would be willing to assist since “people’s lives would be in danger.”
An official at the Federal Labour Department said the department was still holding talks with the airport management, United Federation of the Windward Antilles and the dismissed worker on the matter.
Illis, a Senior Fireman who has been with the Department since 1995 recounted the incident that led to his dismissal. He said he refused to remove a part from the engine of a fire truck because he was not skilled to do so. He speculated that there may be some sort of litigation in the matter in the future if an agreement is not reached soon.
There was insufficient fire protection at the airport to execute normal aircraft operations on Monday morning as a result of the no show of the workers. Some 12 flights were delayed and one cancelled affecting hundreds of passengers.
The results of the workers’ no show on Tuesday could not be ascertained.
