Staff walk out at Paphos hotel

MORE than 150 employees at the St. George Hotel in Paphos staged a walkout yesterday, in protest against an alleged violation of the worker-employer collective agreement by the hotel’s management.

The strike, which involved 180 hotel employees, took place between 5.30am and 12 noon yesterday and was supported by employees’ unions SEK and PEO.

The General Secretary of the Hotel Employees’ Federation (SEK), Nicos Epistithiou, told the Cyprus Mail the standoff was sparked when a hotel manager reportedly forced employees to sign a “personal contract”, breaching the collective agreement signed in 1998.

“We support the employees,” he said. “The union representatives had a meeting with the council of mangers. The council agreed to take the responsibility to implement the agreement 100 per cent. But if we are not able to solve the problem through direct negotiations then we will ask for the mediation of the Labour Ministry,” he added.

He also warned that hoteliers and managers must stand by their obligations.

“They have the obligation to implement the collective agreement.”

Union representatives are expected to meet with Labour Minister Makis Keravnos today to discuss the general dispute over the renewal of the 1998 worker-employer collective agreement, which the Cyprus Hotel Association (PASYXE) has been refusing to sign since January. “Maybe (today) we will find a solution,” Epistithiou said.

But Director General of PASYXE Zacharias Ioannides condemned the strike by hotel staff, saying it contravened the code of industrial relations. “We cannot but reject this in its totality, as not being a justification for taking such a drastic measure on the part of the unions. Whenever there is a dispute on a specific issue there are procedures to be followed according to the industrial code, and it’s only after a declaration from the ministry itself that the unions could be allowed to take any strike. And such a complaint was not filed.”

He added that PASYXE had asked Keravnos to intervene and “put the situation in order”.

“We are pleased to announce this has been done and the hotel is operating normally,” he 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.