CaribWorldNews, MIAMI, FL, Thurs. Feb. 7, 2008: Two of the staffers in the marketing department of the Miami office of Air Jamaica airlines have been let go, a shift that could mark more cuts as the government gears up to privatize the carrier yet again.

Sources tell CWN that the two women, who worked in the carrier’s marketing department, were let go earlier this week with only a week’s notice. The move will be expanded in June when staff at the Miami location will be trimmed further, sources said.

Reports out of Jamaica claim an estimated 30 percent of the staff will be cut from the carrier, which is losing over US$100 million per year.

Ruder Finn, which represents the airline on the PR front, did not respond to email queries for comment and clarification on the Miami dismissals.

Meanwhile, the airline has been given until Friday by union officials to present a wage offer to workers who are said to be restive over the slow pace of negotiations for a new contract.

Vice-President of the National Workers Union, Granville Valentine, says the issue is the chief item on the agenda of a meeting with airline executives.

Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, while noting the value of Air Jamaica to the national economy, has insisted since coming to power that it is costing the country too much to maintain the airline and the government is looking to remove it from the national budget.

`We have given instructions to the Ministry of Finance and Public Service to have discussions with private interests that will be prepared to come in and still run it, as Air Jamaica still employs our pilots and flight attendants,` he stated on a recent radio show, 'Jamaica House Live'. `But take it off our books so that the money we are spending to keep Air Jamaica going, we can spend that to improve our education and try and improve our hospitals and try and fix some roads.`

Air Jamaica was formed in 1968 and was partially privatized in 1994. In 2004, after massive financial loss, the government took back full control of the airline. – CaribWorldNews.com