THE plight of employees at the Palm Beach Hotel in Larnaca appeared no closer to clarification yesterday after deadlock at a meeting between union representatives and hotel management aimed at establishing a redundancy package.
The meeting was called following announcement of the decision to close the hotel on November 15.
Apart from Thursday’s announcement confirming the decision to close, which claimed financial problems for the decision, the owners of the hotel have refused to comment to the press.
At the meeting, PEO representatives rejected the hotel’s offer and questioned the motives behind the decision to close, claiming they had received information that the hotel was preparing for a multi-million pound refurbishment, followed by plans to re-open in time for the new season.
A PEO representative said, “We put forward our view that the hotel should follow the provisions of the collective agreement for winter closing.” The collective agreement enables the hotel to shut while retaining their existing workforce on 25 per cent of their salaries after the date of closure following full payment of any holiday entitlement.
“We have information that the hotel are planning to refurbish the hotel, and are aiming to get rid of the existing staff, and employ a new workforce, at cheaper rates, without a collective agreement or union representation,” said the PEO official.
Following the failure to reach agreement at the meeting, the unions have decided to call on the Labour Ministry to become involved in the negotiations.
Asked what would be the employees’ position if the owners decided to sell the hotel after closing and subsequently re-opened under new ownership, the PEO representative said, “Under existing law, the redundancies would become invalid, the new owners would have to reinstate the former workforce.”
The PEO representative said the union had evidence the hotel did plan to reopen. “We have records of bookings already made for next year.” The alleged response from the hotel was that the bookings would be cancelled.
The decision to close the 228-room, four-star hotel which opened in 1981, is the first of its kind on the island and was taken just days after the Hoteliers Association (PASYXE) and Commerce and Tourism Ministry publicly disputed the state of tourism in Cyprus this year.
PASYXE claim that revenue from tourism has dropped by £120 million this year, while Tourism Minister Nicos Rolandis stated that Cyprus had enjoyed the highest growth in tourism throughout the world over the last five years. Rolandis subsequently refused to submit a proposal to the Cabinet to abolish the three per cent Cyprus Tourism Organisation tax in what he described as, “an atmosphere of misinformation.”
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.
