Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh, the UNC's shadow minister of labour, says the announcement by Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL) of plans to retrench 450 workers has sent shudders through an already battered economy.

In a release, Indarsingh asked where the 450 cuts would come from as he said many of CAL's operations were outsourced to other service providers.

'Is the Government intending to hire private service providers to execute the functions of staff to be fired? How will the State afford to do such?

'Does the Government intend to downsize CAL's fleet, and renegotiate lease agreements with the owners of CAL aircraft?

'The Prime Minister promised that public employees would be safe from being put on the breadline, yet CAL employees find themselves in similar traumatic positions as workers from Petrotrin, UTT, TTHTI and other agencies.'

Indarsingh said he is calling on CAL's management say whether the decision to cut staff had the full approval of the board, the line minister, the Minister of Finance, the Cabinet and the Prime Minister.

'We have seen in the instances of CEPEP and WASA where the Cabinet distances themselves from the actions of those companies, and lament the possibility the Prime Minister and Cabinet may seek to distance themselves from this latest fiasco.'

He said while the government was boasting a few months ago that CAL had made a positive financial turnaround, they are firing workers who have been victims of the mismanagement of the company.

'It was this administration who entered into a deal with Air Jamaica, knowing full well the limited financial capacity of the airline and the liabilities that Air Jamaica brought with it, and the impact that such liabilities would have had at CAL.

'It was this PNM 'administration' who discontinued flights to London, knowing full well the value of having a direct flight to a major European destination.'

Indarsingh said government's failure to pursue an aggressive vaccination drive decimated the potential revenue that could have been earned by the company over the past few months.

He said other Caribbean states which had pursued such drives are re-opening their borders to tourists and business travellers.