A HOTEL strike scheduled for today was called off by hotel workers’ unions yesterday afternoon, amid hopes of a breakthrough in the long running dispute over the renewal of a worker-employer collective agreement.
The strike has been ‘postponed’ until the end of the month after talks between Labour Minister Makis Keravnos, representatives of the Cyprus Hotel Association (PASIXE) and the Cyprus Tourist Business Association (STEK) in at the Labour Ministry in Nicosia yesterday.
Employees’ unions SEK and PEO threatened industrial action at the end of last month, after the continuing refusal of hoteliers to accept a collective agreement already approved by hotel workers earlier in the year.
Director General of PASIXE Zacharias Ioannides told the Cyprus Mail Keravnos had secured the postponement of the strikes for negotiations between hoteliers and the government to continue.
“The Minister announced he secured the postponement of the strikes until the end of the month to get the time to proceed with further deliberations,” Ioannides said. “There has been constructive communication between all parties and the ministry, with the ultimate objective of averting any strikes in the hotel industry.”
General Secretary of the Hotel Employees’ Federation (SEK), Nicos Epistithiou, expressed the hope the negotiations would finally lead to hoteliers signing the collective agreement.
“The Minister found that PASIXE had maybe changed their attitude, and in a couple of days he will be in a position to know if the agreement can be signed by them,” he said. “I hope there will be another meeting (today); it’s up to the Minister to decide whether it’s necessary for a new meeting with employers.”
Epistithiou warned the strike would go ahead at the end of the month if hoteliers refused to put pen to paper and sign the agreement by Thursday.
“Our aim is not to strike, but to solve the problem peacefully and provide good working relations within the industry,” he said. “But this is the final call for hoteliers both to accept the agreement, and to implement it.”
Speaking after meeting hoteliers, Keravnos expressed his optimism that all parties involved in the dispute would “rise to the occasion” to avert a crisis in the tourist industry.
In January and May, members of PASIXE were presented with proposals drafted by the Labour Ministry, but rebuffed them, saying they did not safeguard concessions gained by hoteliers in a 1998 collective agreement. ends
