By Kyriacos Kiliaris
As the tourist season is about to peak at the end of July, industrial peace is being jeopardised as hoteliers and employees are unable to see eye to eye over renewing collective agreements. Unions have sent an ultimatum to hoteliers over the deadlock in negotiations, suggesting industrial action if concessions are not made by the employers’ side.
Unions SEK and PEO, representing hotel workers, have warned hoteliers that they are ready to take industrial action, claiming that ‘negotiations have come to a dead end after 7 months and there is no point in continuing talks’. The two sides have been in negotiations since the end of December 2018 when the previous collective agreement had expired.
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SEK and PEO sent a joint letter to the labour department of the Ministry of Labour on Tuesday, calling on the Ministry to declare a deadlock in the negotiation process if hoteliers do not substantially alter their stance by the end of the month. Once a deadlock is announced, the sides will be free to take measures they see fit after a ten-day warning period.
AKEL affiliated PEO’s hotel employees’ branch general secretary Lefteris Georgiades, said that the unions are prepared to take industrial action including strikes which will affect the majority of hotels.
In recent general assemblies, members of the two largest unions had authorised their leaderships to call for general strikes if there is no progress in the negotiations which would pave the way for an uneventful renewal of collective agreements.
In comments to the Financial Mirror, the director general of the Cyprus Hotels Association Zacharias Ioannides, not wanting to make any comments on the matter of the renewal of collective agreements as negotiations are still ongoing, noted that the hoteliers are participating in the discussions with good faith, willing to come to an agreement with unions which will not endanger the country’s tourism which has hit turbulence.
Hoteliers in their defense note the tourist industry is going through some rough times as hoteliers are faced with unfair competition from unregistered accommodation units, mostly via the Airbnb platform.
Adding to Ioannides’ concerns over tourists choosing non-registered accommodation, Akis Vavlitis, chairman of the Association of Cyprus Tourist Enterprises (ACTE) said that 35% of tourists arriving on the island stay in such units. “Furthermore, we have calculated that some 400,000 tourists opt to stay in hotels in the occupied areas of the island”.
Arrivals dropped 1%, spending much lower
Vavlitis added that tourist arrivals may have dropped by just 1% compared to last year with tourists, however, spending significantly less. “The drop in arrival numbers is not our main concern, but the fact that they are spending less during their holidays. Tourist arrivals increased by 50% from 2014 to 2017, however hotels’ income only increased by 20%,” said Vavlitis.
He added that the record year for tourist arrivals was 2001, with numbers close to that in 2017, however hoteliers’ income was EUR 100 mln more almost two decades ago.
One of the sticking points of the talks is the unions’ reaction to hoteliers’ demand to bring in workers from third countries to take on auxiliary jobs, which as they argue is necessary to close a shortage in staff.
Admittedly, the industry is suffering from the lack of skilled staff, said Vavlitis, who added that hoteliers demand that the labour ministry introduces a decree which will allow some 22,000 foreign students to work in the tourist industry during the high season to take auxiliary jobs such as kitchen duty, freeing skilled labour. He added that Cypriots are not interested in taking on these auxiliary jobs.
Vavlitis commented that if the unions continue to put pressure, blocking their request, they will not sign the collective agreements, as it will make no sense to sign an agreement when there is a lack of staff.
Hoteliers have been granted the option to hire asylum seekers with a decree issued by the Minister of Labour, however they feel that this is but a temporary fix. “The long-term solution would be for us to bring in staff from third countries,” said Vavlitis.
PEO’s Georgiades said that while there are some 30,000 Cypriots unemployed, it is unacceptable that the focus be put on bringing in labour from abroad.
Employers keep wages low, say unions
Commenting on hoteliers’ arguments that Cypriots are not interested in these jobs, he said that this is because of exploitation on behalf of employers to keep wages low.
He said that the union has no issue, in principle, with opening up the market to foreign workers, but believes they will be used as cheap labour, putting extra pressure on Cypriots and EU nationals to accept lower wages and derail working conditions.
PEO’s hotel union branch is asking for an agreement on collective bargaining which will cover all those employed in the industry, including foreign workers and that a minimum wage be set.
“As things stand today our profession is one of the lowest paid in the country, despite working long hours under difficult conditions. Some of the jobs in the industry require training and skills,” said Georgiades.
He said that European workers are offered at best a salary of EUR 500-600 plus accommodation and in some cases food.
As reported, the two hoteliers' associations seem to be leaving a small loophole open to accepting a lower salary threshold in a limited number of low scales that does not exceed EUR 800- 900, as the right to service is already regulated by law.
Georgiades commented that negotiations to renew collective agreements have failed because hoteliers are not willing to concede on any demands from employees.
The union rep said that employees are also asking for a 4% annual increase on their salaries as they have suffered serious cuts during the crisis years of 2013-2015. According to earlier statements made by unions, hotel employees saw their benefits slashed by 15%.
Unions argue that while hoteliers enjoyed a major increase in their profits over the past two years, not one cent was given to employees.
Hoteliers counter that Cypriots are not choosing to work in the industry because of low pay arguing that “we are currently seeing Cypriot staff leaving one hotel to go to another because of a better offer. We are actually witnessing a rise in pay given out to hotel employees”.
CHA’s general director Zacharias Ioannides, acknowledging that working in the tourist industry is no easy task, said that employees have significantly increased their income as wages are around EUR 1200 a month, while they enjoy other benefits through a points scheme, which may boost their income by 30%.
Both hotelier associations note that they have reinstated a number of benefits and have reintroduced holidays taken away from employees in previous years.
