By Evie Andreou
MORE than 2,000 cargo containers have piled up at Limassol port, due to the on-going strike of the licensed porters, the port’s head George Pouros said on Thursday.
The porters, that went on an indefinite strike on Tuesday alleging that the government does not allow more people into the profession, agreed on Wednesday afternoon to load and unload sensitive cargo, like fruit, vegetable, and frozen foods, after pressure from business groups, but the greatest bulk of cargo remains on ships or at the port waiting to be loaded.
It was announced that they will resume normal activities today.
The head of the Limassol porters’ association Nikos Constantinou said that they are expected at the Communications and works ministry today to discuss their grievances. The association also opposes to the upcoming privatisation of the port’s services by the end of the year.
“I would like to apologise to the public for the problems the strike created. Over the years licensed porters did not take any strike action and our demand is that new porters be allowed into the profession. But since the government decided to privatise services, we will not accept to being thrown out with nothing,” Constantinou told state radio CyBC.
He added that from 112 licensed porters in 1990, the numbers have fallen to 28 that employ a total of 62 people.
“We have been asking for new members be allowed since 2004. Finally, when in 2012 the Ports Authority agreed, the works ministry halted the process,” Constantinou said.
However, the bone of contention between the government and the porters is the compensation offered in exchange for their licenses, a government source told the Cyprus Mail.
“The proposed offer is not enough. We have debts accumulated from the purchase of the machinery we use for loading and unloading cargo. They told us to leave the ports and we will lose our businesses, our employees will lose their jobs,” Constantinou said.
The government source said that the porters did not pay the government anything for their licenses, but that some may have paid other porters for their license to enter the profession.
“We operate according to the 1904 law on licensed porters,” Constantinou said.
The head of the Ports Authority and ministry general manager Alekos Michaelides said that the system under which porters operate needs to be revamped and that the government has been trying for several years to buy out these licences.
“We are negotiating with the porters’ association on the buyout price for their licenses and I believe we are not far from reaching an agreement,” Michaelides said.
He added that the cost of the strike is hard to estimate but that it caused great inconvenience to the merchants and that his ministry is working very hard to solve the problem.
Meanwhile, Larnaca port workers who had called for a 48-hour strike on Thursday morning because the House Transport committee had not discussed the agreement between the government and Zenon consortium on the development of the Larnaca port and marina, called off their strike.
The union decided to call off the strike after they received an invitation from the committee for next Thursday to discuss the agreement.
The union feared that Zenon might have changed their initial contract and become beneficiaries of the rent paid to the ports authority by companies using auxiliary buildings to convince banks that it will have income from the rent that amounts to €6m a year.
The consortium, which has been granted extensions since late 2012 due to lack of funds to proceed with the project, is expected to sign the final agreement with the government on March 31.
