The agreements must be respected by everyone, said the Minister of Labor and Social Insurance, Yannis Panagiotou, after the completion of the meetings he had on Thursday morning on the issue of the port of Larnaca and the dispute that arose between workers and the company, during which found a "positive disposition for cooperation" to protect the public interest and labor peace.
The Minister held separate meetings on Thursday morning, first with representatives of the workers, the trade unions PEO and SEK, and then with the Kition Ocean Port company.
The workers had gone on an indefinite strike on Wednesday morning, protesting the company's breach of the agreement regarding working hours and overtime, noting that the company instead of using its own staff uses external partners. The strike was ended in the afternoon, after the intervention of the Minister of Labour.
In his statements after the completion of his meetings, the Minister of Labor expressed his satisfaction with the "positive mood on both sides for cooperation in accordance with the provisions of the Industrial Relations Code in the direction of the public interest for the protection of labor peace".
He noted that the fluidity of the external environment makes it necessary to preserve stability inside the country through the cooperation of social partners, employers and employees.
"The ports are a critical sector of the Cypriot economy for which it is additionally important to maintain normality through the cordial cooperation of all parties", he underlined.
Mr. Panagiotou said that constructive participation in the planned dialogue has been agreed, which will continue with the contribution of the Ministry of Labor and Social Insurance in order to resolve the differences and implement the agreed, avoiding any confrontations.
"I am optimistic that the outcome of this process will be positive and the contribution of this development will be mutually beneficial for all," he said.
Asked if after the strike the company would return to the agreement, he said that "agreements must be respected by everyone." Where disputes arise over how any provisions of an agreement reached are implemented, he said there are procedures in place and with input from the Ministry of Labour, disputes are managed accordingly.
"At this time, due to the fact that an effort has been mediated, which with the cooperation of both sides appears to be successful in the end, we expect that both sides will work to ensure that what was agreed is respected, so that the smoothness is not is disturbed and so that the possibilities that exist on the part of the Ministry of Labor are utilized to avoid any further confrontations", he noted.
Answering about how the dialogue will proceed, he said that a meeting of the two sides is scheduled for next week with the participation of the Ministry of Labor and under the responsibility of the Director of the Department of Labor Relations, so that all the differences that are identified can be thoroughly discussed in order to to confirm the agreed and to ensure their implementation, in a way that will be mutually acceptable. "I am optimistic that through this process in which I find that everyone comes with a positive and constructive mood, we will manage to get the expected results", he noted.
He clarified that the strike measures were already ended from Wednesday "and this is important, because through the interventions that have been made in the interim we have managed to ensure that everything works smoothly and normally".
Asked to comment on workers' concerns about their status should Kition's deal with the state collapse, the Minister said “any concerns on any issue that are expressed are understood and respected. But we do not have before us at the moment data that advocates in this direction".
Source: KYPE
