Eurocypria staff fear redundancies coming

EUROCYPRIA pilots yesterday warned they would react if the finance minister did not meet a commitment, they say he made, to transfer the airline’s personnel to Cyprus Airways when the two companies merge.

The government has decided to merge the two ailing airlines, saying it was the only way if the island was to continue having a carrier.

Elisseos Michael, the general secretary of the Eurocypria pilots’ union said they are demanding from Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis that he implement his commitment, made on September 6, that Eurocypria staff would be transferred to Cyprus Airways.

“If this does not happen, next week there will be mobilisation outside the finance ministry, parliament, and the presidential palace,” Michael said. “Unfortunately, today rumour has it that Eurocypria is moving to controlled closure and the staff moving to Cyprus Airways will be selected.”

Speaking after a meeting with opposition DISY deputy chairman Averof Neophytou, Michael said everything that had been promised to the workers –  voluntary withdrawals with incentives, staff transfers with current contracts and benefits – should be given to them in writing by the new entity so that they would be legally secure.

Michael said they will wait until Friday for a government response.

Cyprus Airways posted a €25.5 million loss for the first half of the year. The airline is majority owned by the government and has a number of public shareholders, while Eurocypria – which received a €35 million cash injection earlier this year to survive — was set up by Cyprus Airways in 1991 as a charter airline.

It is 100 per cent state owned, having been bought by the government from the national carrier some five years ago.

Stavrakis said yesterday work to merge the two airlines continued.

“Just because a new chairman has not been appointed does not mean the merger procedure is not progressing,” he said.

The new chairman, who will head the new formation, is expected soon and a plan for early voluntary retirement is starting immediately to cut the company’s personnel, the minister said.

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.