Duty-free shops back in action

STAFF AT the airports’ duty-free shops returned to work yesterday after agreeing to suspend strike measures pending a new round of negotiations on July 4.

The decision to return to work after six consecutive days of industrial action was taken at a general assembly of the workers early yesterday.

In a statement the workers’ unions said staff had agreed to accept an offer of negotiations made on June 16 by Cyprus Airways to sort out the problems.

The 212 staff from the two duty-free shops, one at Larnaca and one at Paphos have been striking on and off for months.

They want the government to secure their jobs with whoever the new operator of the airport will be when a deal is finally struck.

The duty-free shops are run by Cyprus Airways but the airline has no say in the talks and cannot apply for operation of the shops under the new owners until an agreement is ultimately signed. The staff say other civil aviation staff jobs have been secured and want the same treatment.

The Transport Ministry has managed to secure 170 of the 212 jobs under existing terms but the staff say they are not satisfied.

On Thursday President Tassos Papadopoulos was confronted by the striker on his way to the airport. He called the strike action “unfounded and absurd” and not the responsibility of the government.

The union statement said the worker had decided to suspend the strike action after a meeting Thursday afternoon with Cyprus Airways chairman Lazaros Savvides where it was agreed to continue talking.

“The unions will go to the dialogue in good faith expecting the same from the government and employers` side in order to finally solve this serious problem and so that peace can be restored at the duty-free shops,” said the statement.

Reports suggest that the workers whose jobs have not been guaranteed by the new airport operator might be given a compensation package by Cyprus Airways.

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.