PARLIAMENT will hold an ad-hoc meeting today to discuss ways to resolve the air traffic controllers’ (ATC) dispute with the government which culminated in a four-hour strike yesterday, affecting 5,000 people and 38 flights to and from the island’s two airports.
MPs have called for a meeting of the House Communications Committee to discuss the dispute which has had a considerable impact on flight travel to and from the island, as well as economic consequences for airlines and the economy.
The meeting comes just days before the controllers’ next four-hour strike scheduled for next Wednesday.
Yesterday’s strike was met with severe criticism from the employers’ association which called for the privatisation of air traffic control while opposition DISY called on the government to regulate the right to strike in essential services.
Head of the Cyprus Employers & Industrialists Federation (OEV) Michalis Pilikos said the strike was “unacceptable”, while the controllers’ arguments were “unfounded” and “unsubstantiated”.
In a written statement, OEV said the ATCs had behaved “callously” and “arrogantly”, noting: “They enjoy the highest incomes and without a thought paralyse air transport, seriously harming the country’s economy, while troubling thousands of passengers.”
Pilikos called on the government to privatise air traffic control and challenged the controllers to behave in the same way if they were in private hands.
DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades yesterday expressed “sadness and concern” about the strike. He called on the government to regulate the right to strike in essential services “in a manner that ensures the needs of society and the economic outlook”, adding that his party was ready to take on its share of responsibility.
“It is unacceptable to paralyse vital services, without even having exhausted the procedures provided by the International Labour Organisation,” he said.
Airport operator Hermes spokesman Adamos Aspris said an estimated 5,000 people were affected by the ATC strike which covered both airports, affecting 20 departures and 18 arrivals to and from Athens, Moscow, Thessaloniki, Vienna, Tel Aviv, London, Birmingham, Beirut, Amman, Abu Dhabi, Heraklion and Rhodes.
The strike affected 26 flights at Larnaca airport and 12 flights at Paphos airport.
By 7pm, the situation had returned to normal after airlines rushed to reschedule flights either before or after the strike once it became clear the strike would go ahead.
According to state broadcaster CyBC, the strikers began working 20 minutes early at around 4.40pm as a gesture of goodwill.
Aspris repeated calls for all involved parties to resume dialogue and reach a solution to the dispute as soon as possible to avoid further action in future.
However, the gap between government and the controllers’ union over austerity measures appeared to remain wide yesterday, with both sides sticking to their positions.
ATC union leader Giorgos Georgiou said the minister was misleading the public by inviting them to dialogue as his aim was simply to discuss procedural issues and prevent them from striking.
Communications Minister Efthymios Flourentzos said he was open to dialogue if they called off the strike, noting that a strike was meant to be a last resort after arbitration.
Controllers want to be exempted from a raft of austerity measures passed in December in a bid to salvage the ailing economy. They argue their income comes from the airlines using the island’s airspace and does not affect the state budget. Their pay is governed by a cost-recovery scheme, whereby their salaries are paid by the state, which then recovers the money from the airlines.
The government argues that the principle of equal treatment demands that controllers be included in austerity measures, given that all public servants, companies and private sector employees have contributed to state coffers as part of the measures.
