Employees of a ground handling company at Paphos airport have been on strike since the early afternoon, according to the Provincial Secretary of the Paphos Airport, while a meeting chaired by the Minister of Transport, Communications and Works Yannis Karousos with the participation of the SEK, PEO and DEOK trade unions and the companies involved discussed the matter in an attempt to find a solution.
In his statements to the KYPE, Mr. Dimosthenous stated that the staff of the LGS Handling Ltd and Swissport companies have gone on a spontaneous work stoppage ahead of the session at the Ministry of Transport in relation to the problems that have arisen after the ground service was taken over by a new company in Larnaca and is about to start in Paphos.
According to Mr. Dimosthenous, “it seems that the new company is not going to implement the regulations signed by the Ministry of Transport or the collective agreement”. Mr. Dimosthenous stated that interviews were held by the new company yesterday Tuesday in the context of which they were told that they would receive a reduction in wages which, as he said, contradicts both the collective labor agreement that he is obliged to implement and the decree of the Ministry of Transport. which talks about transferring employees under the same terms of employment.
More than 15 flights were affected by the strike, mainly to and from British airports, since Wednesday is one of the peak days.
< p>Employees who went on spontaneous strike reported that the specific company has lost airlines it served and the new provider that took over the ground service does not intend to continue their employment with the same benefits.
The unions insist that the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works should set such commitments, so that they absorb staff in case of redundancy from other companies. < /p>
