‘Some progress’ in CY talks

A CRUCIAL six-hour meeting between Cyprus Airways (CY) management and pilots unions PASIPY yesterday failed to reach consensus on a company shake-up that involves a raft of redundancies.

No statements were made after the meeting, which took place at the Labour Ministry, but mediator Charalambos Kolokotronis said talks would continue on Tuesday. There had been some progress, he said in a brief statement.

At stake are the jobs of 12 pilots, which PASIPY says should not be sacked, and which the company has offered to put on unpaid leave for a three-year period with a view to re-hiring them if the company’s finances pick up.

CY is implementing a drastic action plan to reverse the trend towards heavy losses over the past two years.

One of the provisions involves the withdrawal of two aircraft from Monday, which will result in 135 surplus staff including 14 pilots. Two pilots have found other jobs and PASIPY is attempting to safeguard the positions of the remaining 12.

It is arguing that staff have been wrongly targeted as the source of the company’s financial woes and has put forward a list of measures, which it says can save the airline an extra £2.5 million a year.

CY spokesman Tassos Angelis, speaking after yesterday’s meeting, said “some progress” had been made.

“We are trying to find a consensus for the benefit of the whole company,” he said.

“We intend to exhaust all possibilities to find an agreed solution.”

Pilots say they will not allow their 12 members to be fired and warned the company that if it did not follow the Industrial Labour Code to the letter it would “cause trouble”.

CY chairman Constantinos Loizides said on Wednesday there was a strong probability of strike action at the airline as the crucial deadline to axe jobs approached.

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