CY stewards may strike

MEMBERS of Cyprus Airways’ (CY) cabin crew yesterday gave the go-ahead to initiate strike measures when and how their union leadership sees fit.

Members agreed that cabin crew could go on strike at any moment in protest over the company’s strategic plan, proposed by the Labour Ministry, to save the airline from going under. They also gave the existing union executive four months extension as their term in office officially ends this March.

SYPKA President Andreas Koutouroushis said the union was seeking dialogue with the government to make the necessary changes to the plan and called on the Labour Ministry to invite them for talks.

“We are open now to take measures when we judge it necessary. We will choose how and when… We will wait to see how the company and ministry will respond,” he said.

SYPKA is the only one of five CY unions to have rejected the strategic plan. Pilots union PASIPY has voiced its objections to the plan but has yet to put it to vote.

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.