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Iacovos Constantinou
Up in the air
The air traffic controllers (ATC) refusal to accept the government’s austerity measures and their subsequent strike action has brought government and all political parties in unison for the first time in years. Even the PASYDI union chief, Mr Hadjipetrou seemed a bit annoyed by the controller’s stance and this is no mean feat. Given the circumstance it’s quite hard to side with the controllers as their main argument is that if their salaries are reduced then the inflow into the state’s coffers will also be reduced.
Mr. Georgiou, the press spokesman for ATC, tried to play down reports that controllers are overpaid saying that their average salaries are not exhorbitant and that he is on an annual salary of €30.000. What he did fail to mention is that the top 20 paid ATC members have an annual average salary of €120.000 (overtime pay included) as revealed by daily newspaper Politis.
Our overworked MP’s failed in the their attempts to find a solution and even an independent triumvirate comprised of ex Communications minister Mr. Nicolaides and two members of the Flight Safety Foundation, Mr Petrou and Mr. Constantinides, fared any better. However the triumvirate claims to have found the ‘solution’ but it appears that their claims are falling on deaf ears.
Mr. Petrou also ruled out the option of outsourcing as ‘only third world countries resort to such measures.’ However ‘third world’ USA did something not so dissimilar when in 1981 the then president Ronald Regan successfully managed to overcome the strike action of the US air traffic controllers (PATCO) by bringing in supervisors and military air-controllers to work along with the non-striking PATCO members. Within a couple of years, and even though air traffic increased by 6% the number of controllers were still 20% less than what had been before the strike.
The much maligned national carrier Cyprus Airways (CY) is yet again in the news. Sensing that the future of CY is not at all rosy, the pilots union (PASYPI) staged a protest outside the offices of CY complaining about mismanagement at CY and demanding that the biggest shareholder (the state) part with some, or all of its stake to a strategic investor. The question posed here though is who in their right frame of mind would want to invest in a company that has been in the red for some time now, and is highly unionized. Will the pilots (and all employed at CY) be willing to accept a drastic reduction in their salaries and benefits for the survival of the company? Coincidentally their collective agreement is up for renewal and the management has put forward 22 points for negotiation. In retaliation, PASIPY replied with 28 demands of their own. However they (PASYPI) claim that they were forced to do this in response to the managements demands.
SPORTING MOMENTS
Marcos Baghdatis, once ranked 8 in the world of tennis, and the darling of many tennis fans throughout the world for his excellent tennis and his mellow and charming demeanor did himself no favours when he managed to break 4 rackets in a 30 second rage during his second round defeat to Swiss player, Wawrinka. Perhaps he needs to toughen up mentally during games but I am not sure if this is the right way
Earlier this week the Cyprus Sport Journalist’s Association held their annual event for the best sporting personalities and teams for 2011. What really impressed me was the number of politicians on show at the event. Apart from the President and the government spokesman I counted 5 ministers and at least another 5 MP’s. Surely they can put their diplomatic skills to better use unless of course they are paid overtime for their long hours and in these dire times we are living in every extra cent counts.
I was baffled to hear the Omonia president Mr. Miltiades Neophytou talking before the top of the table clash between his team and AEL last weekend. Amongst others he said that Omonia condemn all acts of violence both in or out of the football grounds and continued, ‘for us it is of great importance that all athletic venues are places for good sportsmanship and not hooliganism.’ Quite a statement from a president that was banned from the playing area for six months as he was found guilty by the Cyprus Football Association judicial committee for trying to attack a referee after an Omonia game not so long ago.