AN AD hoc strike by Swissport ground handling staff that wrought weekend havoc at Larnaca airport has been roundly condemned by the ministers of Communications and Commerce, as well as the labour unions and the company itself.
“Cyprus cannot tolerate and cannot withstand a similar action like [Sunday’s] strike on the part of Swissport staff at Larnaca Airport, Communications Minister, Nicos Nicolaides, said yesterday.
“I told all stakeholders at the airport – the managing company, the subcontractors and the ground handling companies – that they must take responsibilities [for] their contracts and under the law,” Nicolaides said following an extraordinary meeting at Larnaca Airport yesterday to discuss the issues with all stakeholders, including the Civil Aviation, Hermes Airports, and ground handling companies LGS and Swissport.
“My visit to Larnaca airport aims to send in the loudest way; a message that the smooth and uninterrupted operation of airports is an exceptionally important issue and very serious for Cyprus.
“Particularly so during the peak period we are going through now and especially due to the conditions of international financial crisis our country is going through. When the government is making huge efforts to bring tourism to Cyprus, these matters must be safeguarded by everyone,” Nicolaides said.
Yesterday’s visit to the airport was the fourth by Nikolaides for the purpose of discussing staff strike action, while authorities have already imposed fines on the ground handling companies on two previous occasions.
“Since last December, we have held a number of meetings, have sent messages on time to everyone. It appears that these messages must be received in the clearest way and apparently have not been received yet. Such incidents cannot be tolerated,” he said.
Nicolaides did not deny the possibility that another fine may be imposed on Swissport over the strike action.
“Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Communications and Works have a supervisory role. And we will enforce this supervisory check in the strictest way in accordance to the law. We will not hesitate to use any provision included in the law.”
Commerce Minister Antonis Paschalides also expressed concern over the strike and called both sides to solve their differences and find a solution to the problem.
“The strike’s consequences and the possible additional measures that may be taken from the non-resolution of the differences between the staff and the company will be particularly harmful for Cypriot tourism with spiralling consequences for the sector and for the national economy,” he said yesterday.
“Cypriot tourism is already affected by the international financial crisis and the new flu and now strike actions are added to these exogenous negative developments at a very sensitive post for the image of Cyprus, since our airports are a tourist’s first and last impression,” he added.
Trade union representatives yesterday blasted the company’s stance and what they view as an organisational and management problem at the airport that they claim has made working conditions for staff unbearable.
“The problems are getting old and there are timeframes for dealing with them but the company has a consistently deficient organisation and people have become desperate.
“The company has misinterpreted everything we agreed and there is no sufficient staffing or communication,” said Minas Stavrinos, SEK representative.
“There is no communication with management at the airport. There are two-three directors who are foreign and do not speak Greek. When an employee requests leave of absence and the director cannot speak Greek they cannot communicate, and if leave is denied the Director cannot explain why,” Stavrinos added.
“Unfortunately the company wanted one staff member to do all tasks such as team leading, labourer, driver and cleaner. Is this how they interpret organisational structure?” added Giorgos Ioulianos, PEO representative.
Meanwhile, Swissport issued a statement apologising to its customers for the inconvenience that resulted from the strike.
“Following the unnecessary, unjustifiable and illegal strike that the ground handling team performed at Larnaca Airport, we apologise to our customers for the inconvenience. The strike was made without warning, outside the framework of the code of industrial relations and involved matters for which our company was in dialogue with the trade unions and the intermediating service of the Ministry of Labour,” the statement read.
“Swissport categorically declares that in all cases and in the specific one, our actions have been within the framework of the collective agreement and the code of industrial relations.
“We will place the matter of breach of contract and of the code of industrial relations to the relevant ministry and the least that we ask is the assurance that in these difficult financial times there is respect for the code of industrial relations from the labour union side,” the statement continued.
