CAIR pilots to strike on Feb 9

Cyprus Airways pilots will be carrying out a four-hour warning strike on February 9 from 4 to 8pm, when they will also organise a demonstration outside the parliament building in Nicosia in protest at the way the government, the Board and Management has handled the rescue plan to save the airline.

The latest row came as a delegation comprising the ministers of Finance and Communications and CAIR’s Chairman of the Board Lazaros Savvides flew to Brussels to present the rescue plan to the EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot in order to win approval for a CYP 58 mln loan.

But the powerful pilots’ union PASYPI accuse management of trying to slip new cuts through the back door. The pilots intend to send a letter to the EU informing it of management’s change of tune, and are contemplating legal measures against the company.

PASYPI spokesman Tassos Christofides said the initial version of the restructuring plan provided for up to 25% salary cutbacks. But during the course of negotiations pilots instead offered to have their salaries slashed by 15%, to be offset by further reductions in allowances and benefits.

PASYPI alleges that at the time the airline agreed to this counter-proposal, even circulating a letter to all the unions confirming the agreement. The government rejects the charges, with government spokesman Georgos Lillikas saying that the pilots should agree to the plan subject to reservations that they may discuss in future as is the way all the other unions agreed to the deal, instead of threatening with strikes and disruptions.