Left: Irena Patterson has filed suit alongside a Trnindad trade union against BWIA for monies outstanding on a TT$2 million voluntary separation package.   Right: Arthur Lok Jack, chairman of Caribbean Airlines, says compensation to shareholders is a matter for the Trinidadian government. - File photos

Irena Patterson, BWIA area manager for Jamaica, has filed suit in Trinidad, alongside a trade union, barring the retired airline from disposing of assets of up to TT$3.7 million.

On Saturday, Port-of-Spain's industrial court granted Patterson and the Communications, Transport and General Workers' Trade Union in Trinidad an injunction restraining BWIA West Indies Limited from disposing of assets, said reports out of Trinidad.

BWIA has been replaced by Caribbean Airlines (CA) which began flying at the start of theyear.

Yesterday, Patterson redirected requests for comment on the suit - which Trinidad reports said involved outstanding monies linked to a TT$2 million voluntary separation package - to corporate director Dionne Ligoure, at CA's Port-of-Spain headquarters. Ligoure was out of office when Wednesday Business rang late yesterday evening.

The BWIA Kingston office remains operational under the CA name, but again Patterson redirected queries to Port-of-Spain.

Legal threat

The injunction came a day behind a warning Friday from the Aviation Communication and Allied Workers' Union (ACAWU) that it was prepared to take legal action to secure what it claims was a promised 15.5 per cent stake valued at TT$38 million (US$6.3 million) in retired airline BWIA.

ACAWU president Curtis John said that lawyers for the union had already been briefed on the issue and that he was now "waiting to see what type of action the government will take."

Shareholders of BWIA were told last Thursday that their shares in the airline were worthless and that the company could expect to suffer losses estimated at more than US$50 million, said director William Lucie-Smith.

BWIA held its annual general meeting on Thursday and chairman Arthur Lok Jack told the meeting that "we have received independent information that shares in BWIA are worthless."

Shareholders lose

Last Wednesday, Trinidad's Securities and Exchange Commission announced the delisting of the BWIA shares from the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange effective December 22. Lok Jack confirmed that the shares had been delisted.

"In the normal course of events when a public company fails, the shareholders lose all their money and this has happened many times before," he said, angering shareholders. "If you wish to keep your money safe, put it in a safety deposit in a bank."

Lok Jack said that the decision to compensate shareholders would lie with the government, which owns 97 per cent of the airline.

ACAWU'S John told reporters that the decision to lock down the airline effective December 31 was taken without input from minority shareholders.

"What is amazing is that they did not hold a shareholders' meeting with people who bought into the airline," he said.

The union boss said that the workers of BWIA - numbering about 1,800 - had been guaranteed 15.5 per cent of the airline's shares estimated at TT$38 million and warned that the union was prepared "to take the necessary action" to ensure it receives payment.

The shareholders' meeting was told that the company had been insolvent since 2003, and that the government had been forced to rescue BWIA from the receivers in early 2004.