Unions not impressed with hotel mediation committee

By Athena Karsera

UNIONS yesterday emerged unimpressed from their first meeting with the three-member committee appointed to investigate the continuing strike at two Larnaca hotels.

Sek’s secretary-general for hotels, Nicos Epistethiou, yesterday told the Cyprus Mailthat the unions had expected more to be done during the meeting.

He said the unions were hoping more ground would be covered in the following meeting next Wednesday.

The Cabinet decided to appoint the committee on June 2 in an attempt to breach the deadlock in the marathon strikes at Lordos Holdings’ Golden Bay and Lordos Beach hotels in Larnaca.

The committee is made up of retired judge Savvakis Nicolaides, former labour disputes court president Takis Papamiltiades, and Takis Christophis.

Epistethiou said yesterday the unions accepted the Cabinet’s decision to set up the committee. “We will continue the strike at the two hotels, but not call for any additional measures such as sympathy strikes until we see the outcome of investigations,” he said.

The dispute began on January 31, when 53 members of staff were dismissed after sections of the hotels were turned over to outside contractors.

Lordos Holdings said the changes were necessary to combat chronic losses at the hotels.

The increasingly bitter conflict has landed striking workers and union members in court, with Lordos Holding taking out court orders prohibiting pickets from blocking the hotels’ entrances.

For their part, unions have called sympathy strikes in the industry.

The government had sought to bring both sides to binding arbitration, but the unions refuse unless the sacked workers are first reinstated.

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.