Bar owners in staffing protest

BAR owners yesterday went on the march to protest against new measures which limit the numbers of non-EU staff they can employ.

Dozens of owners marched on the labour and interior ministries, and the Presidential Palace carrying placards which read, “Join us in our hunger” and “You’ve taken away 100 licences and you’ve challenged unemployment. WELL DONE!”

The group delivered a letter of protest asking for the prompt reinstatement of employment licences for non-EU nationals for bars which already employ at least two Europeans.

The current legislation, passed near the end of 2010, states that bar owners can only employ non-EU nationals if they already employ at least four Europeans, including Cypriots. The measure was part of the Labour Ministry’s efforts to tackle unemployment.

“This is part of a general strategy… we should bear in mind the overall financial climate,” said Labour Minister, Sotiroula Charalambous, in response to the marchers’ demands.

About 100 bars have shut down, said Phanos Levendis, general secretary of the Cyprus Association of Owners of Entertainment Centres (PASIKA). The figure amounts to about half of small establishments, Levendis said.

“What are 100 licences going to do for unemployment?” asked Levendis. “We are mostly self-employed and are not entitled unemployment benefits,” he added.

“Most of us have been around for 20 odd years. We have followed the letter of the law and paid a lot of money to follow every single regulation. We even get police checks. The [Labour] ministry is selfish,” another bar owner said.

We cannot find Cypriots and Europeans who are willing to work for us.”

“Cypriots and Europeans are not attracted to this job,” Levendis 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.