By Jennie Matthew
LARNACA airport came to a standstill yesterday when airport staff from four unions went on strike between 3 and 7pm, grounding more than 50 flights and leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
SEK, PASYDY, PEO and DEOK threatened industrial action last week to protest against the government’s decision to transfer the renovation and running of Larnaca and Paphos airports to private investors.
Communications Minister Averoff Neophytou said not one employee would lose his job, but it wasn’t enough to avert the strike.
Neither were appeals from union bosses not to strike at a lunchtime meeting in the airport’s cafeteria.
Porters, cleaners and drivers defied the advice and headed for the picket line.
By 4pm, between 120 and 150 strikers had huddled outside the airport’s main entrance, smoking, chatting and parading sandwich boards shrieking, ” No to selling off the airport” .
Inside, the check-in hall was crammed with thousands of passengers, mainly tourists – a maze of disorderly queues zigzagging across the floor, tetchy children, anxious mothers perched on luggage and pensioners slumped against suitcases, dozing off to ease the boredom.
Teenagers sat on the floor playing cards on upturned suitcases as the cafeteria did a roaring trade.
Some 45 flights were due to take off and land between 3 and 7pm. All departures were postponed; arrivals were delayed as the loading bays filled up with grounded craft.
With no drivers and porters at work, passengers were stranded on the planes, presumably with dwindling refreshments and the no-smoking rule still enforced.
Passengers on board the 3pm British Airways flight from London were only able to leave after BA staff personally hauled the steps up to the aircraft and emptied passengers’ luggage onto the carousel.
A London-based businessman said it took two and a half hours from landing to leaving the airport.
” I’m furious. I can understand people having a strike, but once the unions told them not too? The government should stand firm and just fire them. They give such a bad name to the country,”said Chris Christoforou.
He was one of the lucky ones. Hundreds of passengers from three charter flights, which flew in before 3pm, were still waiting for baggage that showed no sign of materialising.
” It was pandemonium,”he said.
Back in the check-in hall, neither tour operators nor airport authorities told passengers what was going on.
The pile up grew larger as yet more busloads of fresh-faced ignorant passengers arrived from the beaches.
A few knew there was a strike, but at 4pm none knew it would last another three hours.
Most said they had no intention of returning to Cyprus.
” Cyprus depends on tourism. No tourism, no Cyprus economy. We had a wonderful time, but it’s my first trip and my last,”said Michael Kirkwood from Leeds.
” I’m feeling very disappointed with Cyprus and with the authorities in general. There are lots of young mothers and children. They have no idea what’s going on. Why can’t they solve their disputes sensibly in a normal democratic way?”said another.
” We’ve been here 10 times, but we’ll not come back to Cyprus again,”said Alan Brown from Belfast, on holiday with his wife.
Frayed tempers were soothed by an off the cuff performance from Irish band Breaking Strings, who flew to Cyprus to perform at the opening of an Irish Pub in Limassol.
” We started playing to keep ourselves amused and people entertained.
We’re not too happy like. Hopefully it won’t be too long,”said violinist Neil McClean from County Down, speaking at 4.30pm.
” We’re supposed to have a gig tonight in Bangor at 10pm, but somehow I don’t think we’ll be there on time,”he added.
But outside, the picket line was more like a coffee shop than the charged anti-privatisation battles of Thatcher’s Britain.
” We’re striking against privatisation. If a private firm takes over, our jobs are only guaranteed for a year. What happens after that? Will we lose our jobs after a year? We can’t plan our future,”said George Georgiou, father of three from Larnaca.
But for the men on the ground, the goals of industrial actions were hazy.
Asked if strikes would continue today Polychronis Demetriou, a refugee from Famagusta replied: ” They say, but I’m not sure what time.”
Asked what would make them go back to work, he said he didn’t know and referred us to PEO union bosses.
Most of them gossiped among themselves. One group only started shouting their mantra against privatisation as soon as they saw the microphone from a radio station.
About the inconvenience, Demetriou said he was really sorry, but strikes were the only way to solve the dispute.
