HUNDREDS of travelers were blocked from entering Larnaca airport yesterday morning as striking staff from the duty-free shop blocked roads and entrances, causing chaos for around 20 minutes.
Tourists and Cypriots alike, running to make their flights, got out of cars and taxis and hauled their luggage on foot, some from the airport roundabout.
A picket also took place at Paphos airport, but no incidents were reported.
The 230 staff began a 48-hour strike yesterday at around 7am as part of their ongoing protest over job security. They say the government, which is in the last stages of negotiation with a strategic investor for the construction and operation of a new airport, has not made any provision for their future employment.
The staff are employed by Cyprus Airways, which runs the lucrative Duty Free Shops, but the airline can do nothing as no contract has yet been signed and there is therefore technically no investor to negotiate with.
The state-owned airline believes it is unlikely to be granted a renewal of its contract, as the airport investor, the Hermes group, will likely run the shop themselves if they sign a contract with the government.
All other airport staff are being provided for in the negotiations, as they work for the government, but the Duty Free staff have fallen into a gap.
Having staged two protests already this year, they had set yesterday as a deadline for more dynamic action. Police tried to move them when they blocked the road and minor scuffles ensued.
When it died down, the staff remained in the area for another three hours.
A member of the committee representing the workers, Nicos Nicoloau, said they had closed the road as a symbolic act and had been forced to take such drastic action because no one was listening to them. He said they had asked repeatedly for a meeting with the Finance Minster but were still being ignored.
“We were forced into this in the hope that someone somewhere can find a solution,” Nicolaou said, adding that although Transport Minister Haris Thrasou was “trying”, the Finance Minister remained “apathetic”.
“Until now, we have only got to talk to officials from the Ministry. We are very disappointed and we ask that he enter this process and help up solve this problem,” he added.
He said that if nothing had been done until their 48-hour strike ran out on Saturday, they would shut down the Duty Free shops indefinitely.
A source at Cyprus Airways, which could lose hundred of thousands of pounds through the strike, confirmed there was little the airline could do.
