LABOUR Minister Christos Taliadoros has been given a time frame of a few days by trade unions SEK and PEO to propose an agreement on the renewal of a hotel industry collective agreement.
The unions and disgruntled workers have threatened to go on strike if Taliadoros’ efforts do not bring a positive outcome.
In statements made yesterday after a lengthy meeting of SEK and PEO, SEK General Secretary Nicos Epistithiou said that all the relevant hotel industry unions were informed of the latest developments regarding the renewal of the contract. They were also brought up to date on negotiations between hoteliers and their workers.
“The unions have expressed their concerns as the hoteliers have not been forthcoming with information on the progress of negotiations,” said Epistithiou, something which was preventing them from reaching a settlement to the problem.
The unions also reiterated they would not hesitate to take industrial action if their demands weren’t met.
Referring to the Minister’s appeal to employees and unions not to take strike measures immediately but to give him and the hoteliers more time to reach a comprehensive agreement, SEK and PEO said they would respect Taliadoros’ wishes only up to a point.
“We will give the hoteliers and the Minister warning before we go on strike,” said Epistithiou.
When questioned whether the workers would go on strike on August 15 if an agreement was not reached, Epistithiou said: “We made it clear on August 5 that we were giving the minister and hoteliers 10 days’ official warning before we went on strike. That 10 day limit expires on the 15th.”
“Therefore,” continued Epistithiou “we would strike on August 16.”
He said that the unions and workers were taking Taliadoros’ intervention into consideration, as he wanted to help to solve the problem and make sure they reached an agreement with the hoteliers.
“There have been some decisions reached today (yesterday) and they will be submitted to the minister and to those high up in the unions SEK and PEO,” added Epistithiou.
He stressed that all sides must make a concerted effort in order to reach agreement.
“The unions are fighting so that hotel workers can share the profits made by the hotels by gaining higher salaries,” said Epistithiou and stressed that if hoteliers insisted on lowering the starting wages for hotel workers then no agreement would be reached.
