CY london staff flock to TGWU

By Jean Christou

THE BRITISH Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) is seeking a meeting with Cyprus Airways (CY) to discuss industrial unrest at the airline’s London offices.

A statement from the TGWU said that 90 per cent of CY’s London staff had joined the union.

Michael Cook, the TGWU’s regional industrial organiser, said so many CY staff had signed up because of discontent with management.

He cited “low pay for staff and high awards for management”, along with pay deductions he said were contrary to British law.

He also highlighted staff claims that they had been prevented from taking holidays, and pointed to claims of bullying by management.

Cook said he had written to the company seeking a meeting and that a reply from CY’s London office said the letter had been passed on to Cyprus.

CY officials were not available for comment yesterday.

The plight of CY’s London staff was first highlighted in the Cyprus Mail last year.

In a letter to the newspaper, CY’s London staff said they had asked head office for an investigation into alleged nepotism and other suspect practices at the UK branch.

The staff compiled a 10-part questionnaire that they sent to the CY Board in Nicosia for answers.

They claimed vacancies had been filled at their offices without being advertised, and that those appointed did not have the necessary qualifications for the job.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.