Pilots consider proposals from CY bosses

PILOTS union PASIPY said yesterday it would respond tomorrow to a set of proposals by Cyprus Airways (CY) management aimed at reaching agreement on the issue of 14 redundancies.

“We have been given a set of proposals by the company and we are studying them and we will give them an answer on Thursday,” PASIPY chairman Efthymios Liasis said after a meeting with CY management at the Labour Ministry yesterday.

Liasis said his union would also hand over a set of proposals to the company for its consideration, designed to save the airline £2.5 million without having to target jobs.

CY is attempting to thrash out an agreement with the unions, with the mediation of the Labour Ministry, on an action plan to save the ailing carrier. It has run into trouble on the issue of redundancies with its five unions.

Under the plan, 14 pilots were to be made redundant, but PASIPY is fighting to retain their positions.

On Monday, the withdrawal of two Airbus A320s was to end the jobs of 135 surplus staff, including the 14 pilots, two of whom have already left the company.

On Monday, 54 other positions were axed when the company did not renew contracts for the winter season. This leaves another 70 or so jobs in the balance.

It is believed that CY is attempting to work out a redundancy compensation scheme with other unions. Reports yesterday said this could cost the company £2 million, money that it doesn’t have.

CY reported losses of £30 million for the first half of this year and the action plan was designed to return it to the red by the end of 2005.
Airline spokesman Tassos Angelis said yesterday said they expected a very broad proposal from the pilots’ union. “They will give it to us in writing and we will consider it,” he said.

Commenting on the axing of 54 jobs on Monday, he said: “They were not redundancies. They were temporary employees that did not have their contracts renewed.”

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.