.
Strange, how even in the present troubled times, there still is no solidarity, friends have disappeared, alliances have collapsed and basically it’s everyone for himself. We’re not talking about support towards Cyprus from other Euro zone members, but solidarity among groups of strikers and soon-to-be-laid-off personnel at banks, Cyprus Airways, semi-government organisations, etc.
Clearly the strength of the once-mighty trade unions has vanished, as they, too, failed miserably to look after the interest of their members. Priority has been given to public-sector workers, where membership is strongest, simply because of numbers, while private sector workers have been abandoned by their union reps long ago.
Although PM Samaras’ handling of the ERT closure was ill-planned and turned out to be a PR nightmare, everyone agrees that the decision was right to slash this white elephant’s workforce from a ludicrous 2,600 to a more reasonable 1,000, saving some 100 mln euros in the process.
The time has come for similar actions here as well, which is why union bosses, uncomfortable with the criticism they are getting on a daily basis, are getting ready in the trenches for a long battle ahead. But what is there left to defend, apart from the golden privileges afforded to public servants and bank employees? Despite the relative pay-cuts, they still enjoy other perks, with nothing being done to improve the productivity and competitiveness of the government machine.
Perhaps, the time is ripe for wide-scale redundancies of civil servants and the transfer of their workload to private contractors, where output will be measurable and increased. Privatisations should be a primary goal and not a last resort, otherwise the “Cyprus” brand will continue to suffer, as it has done during the last five years of head-in-the-sand ostrichery and during the past three months of frustration and snail-paced reforms.
As regards Cyprus Airways, well, perhaps it’s payback for the troubled carrier’s trade unions that have refused to discuss serious changes and as a result the airline faces imminent closure. Laying off 200 or more staff will not solve the problem if the civil servant mentality and in-flight arrogance continues to rule. Remember the ferocious arguments in favour of closing Eurocypria? Perhaps, the wrong airline was shut down at the time.
If the Flying Moufflon is to be rescued, management and strategy should also be drastically changed, while it is high time a direction change was made as regards the fleet structure and route network.
Besides, there are so many other low-cost and scheduled carriers out there who still get us from point A to B, maybe even at a better price and with less of a hassle.
