ST GEORGE’S– Several incoming and outgoing flights at Maurice Bishop International Airport were delayed or cancelled on Saturday following protest action by workers of Aviation Services of Grenada (ASG), the airport’s primary ground-handling company.
Airport management said a number of ASG employees reported being unwell on Saturday, morning, resulting in disruptions to both arriving and departing flights.
“As far as I am aware, some of the workers have informed management that they are sick, so what is happening is that ASG workers at the airport are sick,” said Joseph Mitchell, president of the Bank and General Workers Union.
ASG workers provide essential ground-handling services, including passenger check-in, baggage handling, ramp operations, and cargo services for commercial, cargo, and private flights, supporting airport operations for major airlines and visitors.
The sharp increase in sick leave comes as the union and ASG’s negotiating team are finalising a fringe benefits package for workers, which includes a Christmas bonus.
It’s reported that the package had largely been agreed on, with only revised wording remaining to clarify bonus payments in profitable and non-profitable years, before talks stalled. It remains unclear whether the sick leave action constitutes an organised form of industrial protest.
But ASG has argued that as a subsidiary of the Grenada Airport Authority (GAA), it is constrained by the GAA’s financial position, including claims that airport authority workers are not receiving bonuses.
The reported “sick-out” resulted in multiple flight delays and the cancellation of British Airways Flight 2158, which operates between St. Lucia and Grenada.
The flight landed in St. Lucia, and it was not immediately clear which agency or institution would be responsible for accommodating passengers awaiting onward travel to Grenada.
A review of the GAA website showed that several flights had already landed, while others were en route, delayed, or operating as scheduled, alongside the confirmed cancellation of the British Airways flight. (CMC)
