Cyprus Airways trade unions threatened strike measures next week

By a Staff Reporter

CYPRUS Airways trade unions have threatened strike measures at the beginning of next week if their new collective agreement demands are not met.

Union demands include 10.5 per cent pay rises and an extension of the age of retirement from 60 to 63 as part of their renewed collective agreements, which expired on December 31 last year.

But because the national carrier is going through a transitional period with no chairman and expecting a new board to be appointed by the beginning of next month, decisions concerning staff issues cannot be taken.

Cyprus Airways spokesman Tassos Angelis said: “The company will announce its official position with the next few days after the return of the acting chairman, general manager and members of top management (from Los Angeles, where they have gone to secure a deal with a US leasing company for the sale of four planes).”

In spite of this, union representatives reached deadlock with Labour Ministry mediators in discussions on May 8, calling a six-hour warning strike from 6am to midday on Monday, May 26.

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.