Commenting on the conclusion of the fire fighters at Turks and Caicos Airports, Patrick Boyle, Chief Executive, TCI Government said in a statement to RTC news:
“Our ongoing discussions with the fire-fighters and their representatives throughout the weekend produced a positive result late yesterday afternoon with the calling off of further industrial action.
“We have agreed the following package with fire-fighters: that proposals to transfer fire-fighters to the TCI Airport Authority are withdrawn; we are committed to investing in essential safety equipment; we will review pay as part of the wider civil service review; further assess training needs and develop a plan to maintain training to the highest international standards; I will visit staff in both Provo and Grand Turk airport fire stations this week.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the public servants who worked with us to minimise the impact of the action reopening Providenciales Airport again on Saturday afternoon and keeping it open throughout on Sunday. I am sorry that the other airports had to close as we could not muster sufficient numbers of fire-fighters at them to allow them to meet minimum safety requirements.
“I am also sorry for the inconvenience caused to thousands of tourists and to local tourism-based businesses. This is a dispute from which no winners emerged.
“It arose despite our communications with the fire-fighters over a period of time which had informed them that it was the Government’s intention to transfer them to the TCI Airports Authority. Such a transfer would have protected their rights and conditions of service such as pay, length of employment and pensions. Further, under the terms of the transfer we would have given the TCIAA $500,000 for improvements at the family islands airports, such as South Caicos and Salt Cay. While it is clear that in the circumstances the strike was unjustified, I am looking forward to working with the fire-fighters to ensure an effective and modern airports fire service in TCI.”
RTC can now confirm that the Governor will be on RTC Wednesday 14th to talk about the strike among other issues including the milestones.
