‘Mystery talks’ to avert Cyprus Airways strike

UNION bosses at Cyprus Airways say talks to avert a planned strike may go ahead anyway, even though there is confusion as to whether the Labour Ministry has actually been asked to mediate in a pay dispute.

Labour Minister Andreas Moushouttas said yesterday that the airline’s unions had officially asked for mediation on the financial dispute, and that he had submitted a written request to this end.

But Costas Demetriou, chairman of CY’s largest union Cynika, said that the first he had heard of this was on the radio news.

He said that when Cynika had announced its plan to strike for four hours this Thursday, it had submitted a letter to the Labour Ministry informing them of its decision, and that the letter had said Cynika was at its disposal for discussions on the matter.

So it was possible the ministry considered this a request for mediation, Demetriou said. He added that if the ministry did call Cynika to the negotiating table, then they would be happy to attend talks.

The unions and Cyprus Airways are in dispute over demands for pay increases and benefit boosts in line with those given to employees of other semi- government organisations.

Demetriou also told The Sunday Mail that the smoke-free flights the airline plans to start running from tomorrow “are not a matter for a strike”.

In a separate dispute, Cynika is fuming over the plans to ban smoking on flights to Athens and London, as pilots will be excluded from the ban but cabin staff will not.

Demetriou said the airline would be implementing the scheme on schedule, but that it was a matter for continued discussion.

Moushouttas met Cynika representatives on Friday to discuss the matter, and reportedly told the airline that unless everybody was banned from smoking on board its aircraft, there would be problems.

The thinking behind CY’s decision is that as the pilots sit in a separate compartment, their smoking would not annoy passengers. But Cynika views this as discrimination, and has said that even if the pilots are also included in the smoking ban, its union members may still refuse to accept it.

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.