A MINORITY of truck drivers are holding the country to ransom in an effort to assert their monopoly on the business, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KEVE) charged yesterday.
The accusation came in a news conference called to respond to the looming threat of strike action by holders of A and D lorry licences, angry at what they say is the Licensing Authority’s unjustified issue of C licences. Next week’s 48-hour strike was in the end suspended for a fortnight, but the threat remains.
KEVE condemned the continuous strike threats as an attempt to monopolise the Cypriot market.
“KEVE, representing the business world in Cyprus, receives complaints on a daily basis from hundreds of businesses and isolated truck owners, who have come to realise that once their B licences have expired, they can no longer use their vehicles because the renewal of their licences conflicts with the non-negotiable attitude of A holders,” said Marios Tsiakkis, Head of KEVE’s Industry Department.
“With the power given to them by legislation, A licence holders have gone beyond the reasonable limits and are not only after the exclusive privilege and monopoly of carrying out all transportations [from the ports to businesses and vice versa], but insist on having the exclusive right to provide services to the businesses’ clients.”
Tsiakkis condemned A licence holders for recently demanding that Parliament amend the law to all trucks driven by anyone other than A licensees from executing road transportation of any type of cargo from ports, public warehouses and temporary depot warehouses.
“So we are observing a co-ordinated attempt to gain complete control of the transportation sector by a small and privileged class of professionals at the expense of businesses, every private businessman but also of the economy in general.”
Their position strengthened by the authorities’ tolerance of their demands, A Licence holders “are also given the luxury of blocking the entire country, as we have seen in the recent past, with great ease.”
“So we are calling upon the Communications Ministry as well as the House Communications Committee to take their share of responsibility to the creation of these privileged situations and to act immediately to maintain conditions of fair competition in the transportation sector,” Tsiakkis said.
He went on to stress that it was not KEVE’s or the businesses’ intention to come into conflict with the drivers. “But we do have the democratic right to defend the freedom of carrying out our business activities to the advantage, always, of our clients.
“We cannot tolerate monopolies, the infliction of terms and regulations that go against the freedom of carrying out trade and the good service for the economy of the island.”
