Dear Editor,

The call by the Air Jamaica workers for the takeover of the airline could yet be the greatest opportunity for and call to nation-building to be seen in this country’s existence. Next to Mr Usain Bolt, the Reggae Boyz and the Sunshine Girls, nothing has ever come close to generating national pride than this “little piece of us that flies”.

Our pilots have already laid claim to being among the best anywhere in the world and the remaining staff would be inspired to work with the zeal of the self-employed. The government should request a stay of three months for the divestment process and thereby enable the workers to garner financial support in the stock market; in addition I imagine that the vast majority of workers would wish to retain their jobs, and the government should make it a precondition that if they are allowed to assume control, no redundancy would be required.

Furthermore, I am advised that there is a groundswell of resentment in Trinidad to the proposed takeover as well as similar opposition to the incipient ownership of major corporate structures by that country here – all of which bodes ill for the future support of this “new” airline. The potential for providing our nation with a common cause around which we all can rally, at home and abroad, cannot be allowed to let slip.

Howard Hamilton

26 Duke Street

Kingston