Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 99-06-29

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>

Tuesday, June 29, 1999

CONTENTS

[01] CY insists it will go ahead and fill disputed vacancy

[02] Cheaper fares will mean wage cuts for CY staff

[03] Police start enforcing new jet-ski rules

[04] Takeover rumours fuel spiralling market

[05] Maronite spy to be sentenced on Saturday

[06] Potato farmers take their woes to Rolandis

[07] Refugees will not return: Denktash

[08] Galanos urges Clerides to accept UN talks invitation

[09] Two held after massive drugs find

[10] A fatal gesture of assistance

[11] Computer delivery delays costing tax payer big money

[01] CY insists it will go ahead and fill disputed vacancy

A VERY fragile peace settled over Cyprus Airways (CY) yesterday in the wake of last week's crippling pilots' strike, but it was evident that deep resentments still hovered beneath the surface.

CY made it clear early in the day that it intended to comply with the collective agreement it has with Eurocypria pilots and fill the disputed captain vacancy at the charter airline.

Around 100 pilots from CY's Pasipy union want the promotions within the national carrier's charter firm to be frozen, under a subsequent agreement to begin a dialogue on a policy of common seniority. CY said the second agreement did not supersede the first -- a collective agreement.

Pasipy called an immediate 24-hour strike after CY advertised the vacancy last week, followed a day later by a 48-hour strike. The week's industrial action affected over 40 flights and 15,000 passengers, and cost the company some £300,000.

The pilots decided late on Friday night to return to work as a sign of good will in the light of the government's promise to appoint a two-man ministerial committee to investigate the dispute.

But this does not mean the filling of the captain vacancy in Eurocypria will be postponed, said CY spokesman Tassos Angelis.

"Our position is the same," he said. "We believe the collective agreement is very clear and is signed by all parties, including Pasipy."

He said the post had been announced in accordance with the collective agreement. "In the meantime if they (Pasipy) feel the agreement should change and they want to renew it on another basis, then all parties concerned should meet and sit down and hopefully find a mutually acceptable solution," Angelis said. "We can't accept a solution which is going to victimise other pilots."

Pasipy spokesman George Charalambous was, however, surprised to hear CY was to go ahead with plans to fill the Eurocypria captain post.

"Let them go ahead and fill the vacancy," he said. "If that's the attitude they are going to take they will have to take all the consequences that go with it."

Charalambous said Pasipy had been trying to set up some meetings with the government. "I don't see any industrial action ahead unless they try to fill the vacancy," he said.

But Eurocypria pilots have threatened to take action of their own if the vacancy is filled by Pasipy members.

Angelis said one solution would be if the pilots of both companies could agree among themselves to keep the work schedules going without the vacancies being filled until the problem was solved.

"If everyone is happy with that then we are happy not to fill the vacancy," he said.

The cabinet on Thursday backed a proposal by the Communications and Works Minister to extend air deregulation if the pilots continued their industrial action.

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Tuesday, June 29, 1999

[02] Cheaper fares will mean wage cuts for CY staff

FOR YEARS Cypriot travellers have been paying over the odds to travel with Cyprus Airways. Now prices are falling, but the national carrier must slash it's bloated staff and salaries to keep up with the competition.

"We believe Cypriots should pay less, and we are offering lower fares than before in readiness for complete liberalisation," CY spokesman Tassos Angelis told the Cyprus Mailyesterday.

The airline can no longer charge over £300 return to London and expect Cypriots to stand for it in an increasingly competitive market.

For this reason, CY's peak fares to London -- except for August -- are down on 1998 by an average of 28 per cent across the board.

The range of Economy class fares to London this year varies between £143 and £250; last year the cheapest fare was £249 return and the most expensive £ 289.

"The prices we are offering now were unthinkable four years ago, which shows we are already in the business of competing, but to continue we need to cut costs," said Angelis.

Nevertheless, buying a normal Cyprus Airways return ticket to Larnaca from Gatwick or Stanstead would be about £100 cheaper, said an industry source.

"It's cheaper to buy a return ticket from England because Cyprus Airways' routes originating from Cyprus are still protected. You'd pay twice as much flying to Dubai than from Dubai for example," said the source.

During last week's costly and disruptive CY pilots strike, everyone from ministers to the company chairman waxed lyrical about how the consumer could no longer subsidise pilots' high salaries by paying exorbitant fares.

Chairman Takis Kyriakides proclaimed that in a deregulated market, CY's charter arm Eurocypria could easily compete for the lucrative Athens route at £29 one-way -- even giving easyJet a run for its money.

But the reality on the ground indicates that CY needs to shed around 700 of its 2,000 staff, cut wages and restructure working conditions in order to compete in deregulated skies.

"Consumers are not just subsidising overpaid pilots, but all Cyprus Airways employees, as the company is overstaffed by six or seven hundred," an industry insider said.

Even Angelis, although not wanting to talk about figures, agreed the company's restructuring programme had to go ahead if it was to survive.

"We are trying to compete, but at the same time we need to cut costs, which means cutting the wage bill, allowances, overtime, sick leave and the number of employees."

He said the only way European and American airlines had survived was by slashing salaries at the same time as reducing fares.

"With increased competition come lower fares, which in turn mean lower salaries. If you can't compete you go out of business," said Angelis, spelling out his vision of the future.

For all CY's bad press, the Association of Cyprus Travel Agents believes the airline is not overcharging its routes, and -- with £10 million of profits for 1998 -- is actually on the right track.

"I do not think Cyprus Airways is overcharging regarding the fares because fares are regulated by competition and nothing else," said the association's general secretary Thassos Katsourides.

He said the carrier could survive deregulation if it restructured work practices, increased rationalisation and improved strategic alliances.

"In my unbiased opinion, Cyprus Airways can survive if it restructures properly, because it offers one of the best services of any airline," said Katsourides.

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Tuesday, June 29, 1999

[03] Police start enforcing new jet-ski rules

CYPRUS Marine Police yesterday began enforcing new rules restricting hours and sites for jet-ski operators to rent water-sports equipment on the beach, Cyprus Water Sports Association President George Demetriou told the Cyprus Mail.

Demetriou said members of his association would not obey Marine Police orders to move from their current locations to the margins of the beaches, or to limit their rental hours to the six hours per day allowed under the government's new rules.

The rules move water-sports operators to the margins of the sandy swimming beaches, and limit their operation to 10am-1pm and 4pm-7pm slots. They are the government's reaction to at least three ski-jet accidents last year that killed one British tourist and seriously injured three others.

"The marine police started today writing down the names of the people who have to move from the (current) corridors, so they can take them to court," Demetriou said.

But he said the water-sports operators "are still in their (old) positions and they are working... inside this year's swimming areas, which were last year's (sea-access) corridors."

"Whether the floats are there or not there, all the water sports people pretend there is a corridor there," Demetriou said, adding: "Everybody knows about it and they are very careful," not to run into swimmers.

"Our people will stay where they are. The legal advice from the union's lawyers is that we've got the law with us 100 per cent," he said.

As to the new operating hours, versus the old sunrise to sunset hours, Demetriou said: "We don't agree to it. Nobody is going to work those hours. We are going to work as normal."

"We still believe that doing something violent will not bring results," he said. "We still believe that we don't want to affect tourism, the chicken that lays the golden egg. We are going to go through the legal procedure... which means suing and lawyers and courts. (But) if they start giving tickets, it will be a different story," he added.

Besides the backing of their union Povek (the Union of Small Businessmen and Retailers), the jet-ski operators yesterday got some mixed support from some of the island's powerful hotel industry.

John Wood, President of the Cyprus Hotel Managers Association, said his 180 members opposed blanket rules moving all water-sports operators to beach margins and limiting their hours to six per day. He said this discriminated against operators and against hotels that advertised water-sports.

"The members basically want each case to be looked at on its merits," he said, especially as "hotels that are on the sea throughout Cyprus promote water sports, and they do not want people to have to go a mile down the beach... to the next hotel and... lose their competitive edge."

But, he added, "the jet-ski problem is a very serious one. Lives have been lost... (and) controls are needed. There's no doubt about that... We cannot afford to have one more loss of life. That's not negotiable."

However, Wood said he was "not so certain" that lives were lost "because there are jet skis in front of hotels, rather than because the people who have been given the jet-skis either were not shown how to use them properly, or they were shown and they didn't listen or ignored the instructions. Whether they had too much to drink is another story," he added.

Aris Moussoulides, assistant general manager of STEK, the Association of Cyprus Tourism Enterprises, said his associations' 29 four-and five-star hotels did not want the water-sports sea-access corridors moved, but did want only two hours per day of operation, from 10am to noon.

Moussoulides echoed Wood in noting that moving the rental sites and corridors from in front of some beach hotels gave others a comparative advantage, especially as many Cyprus hotels advertised water-sports in their package-tour brochures.

He also said confining more operators into fewer sea-access corridors would cause "congestion of the traffic... There will be some problems. If you have one corridor and you have five times the congestion, you can imaging the dangers."

"Our suggestion was that they should leave (the sea-access corridors) as they were, and (instead) be very strict about whom they give a license to rent the jet-skis," he said.

Zacharias Ioannides, director-general of the Cyprus Hotel Association, said the owners of the 450 hotels in his association had from the start backed changing both the hours of operation and the sites for rental of water- sports equipment.

"The top priority is for our tourists, our clients. They are the paramount importance... So this is why we are in favour of the regulations. We believe they are to the benefit no only of the tourists, but also of the good image of Cyprus as an attractive and safe destination for the holidays."

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Tuesday, June 29, 1999

[04] Takeover rumours fuel spiralling market

SHARES continued their spectacular run yesterday, notching up their fifth successive record close. The official all-share index rose by 1.80 per cent to close at 162.80 and bring to nearly 70 per cent total gains on the year.

The value of trade was a respectable £15.60 million, of which the unusually high sum of £4.01 million were spent on trading shares.

On a day when all seven-indices finished in positive territory, the blue- chips of the banks took £2.9 million of volume, while the "other companies" sector had £1.71 million.

The meteoric rise in share prices are prompting some traders to caution that a correction could be in the offing. This, they warn, might hurt investors who got in at relatively high levels.

"People must start to be a little careful with the market now," was the advice of one trader.

Hellenic Bank, the island's third largest financial institution, was the day's biggest winner, rising by 31 cents to close at 4.91 pounds on the back of persistent rumours that the bank was the target of a takeover bid from Greece.

"We have not got a clue as to why the share is rising and there is no truth at all in the rumours," a Hellenic Bank spokesman told the Cyprus Mail.

The share rose by 20 cents Friday and 18.50 cents the previous day.

The rumours have been making the rounds for weeks, surviving a categorical denial last month by the bank's chief executive Panos Ghalanos.

"The market has a momentum and it seems to have an appetite for rumours like these," said Adonis Yiangou of Expresstock. "I don't think it is true myself that Hellenic is a target for a takeover."

In the banks sector, only the Bank of Cyprus finished lower, at £6.80, while Popular Bank and Universal Savings finished up at £3.75 and £2.25 respectively.

Other big winners included shares of KEO, the Limassol-based beverages conglomerate. The stock rose by 20 cents to close at 1.68 pounds to help the manufacturing sub-index climb by an impressive 13.16 per cent to close at 99.31.

KEO, which holds its annual general meeting later this month, has returned to profit after several years in the red. Rumours in the market spoke of a rival beverages conglomerate buying up shares on the market en massein a bid to build up a stake in the brewery, wine and fruit juice makers. But a highly-placed source at KEO said the shares believed available for sale were too few to allow anyone to become a major shareholder. The Hellenic Mining Group Corporation owns about 55 per cent of KEO, according to the source, while the Bank of Cyprus and Hellenic Bank have 22 per cent and 8.5 per cent respectively.

In the trading sector, Nicos Shacolas' Woolworth raked in 19 cents to close at £1.23 with 2.31 million shares changing hands. CTC, another Shacolas company, also finished higher at £2.17, up by 4.9 cents.

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Tuesday, June 29, 1999

[05] Maronite spy to be sentenced on Saturday

Avgoustinos Skoullou, 53, from occupied Kormakitis, faces a 10-year jail term for smuggling military secrets to the Turks.

In finding the accused guilty (on two counts of spying), the court rejected claims by the Maronite that he fed Turkish intelligence false information about National Guard weapons and installations.

Skoullou had been under surveillance for some months before he was arrested at the Ledra Palace checkpoint on January 14 after a four-page document (in English) detailing National Guard weapons systems was found in his possession.

The Cyprus Intelligence Service (KYP) was keeping tabs on Skoullou since September last year, when he was seen acting suspiciously outside army camps in the dead of night.

To ward off suspicions, Skoullou carried with him a hunting rifle, but intelligence officers noticed he never fired a shot.

The accused is the second Maronite man to be found guilty of spying for the Turks this year. George Josephides, 44, was jailed for six years by the criminal court in May.

Josephides was found guilty on four counts of spying against the republic and two counts of passing on information to Turkish army officers in the north.

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Tuesday, June 29, 1999

[06] Potato farmers take their woes to Rolandis

Representatives of the Panagrotiki agricultural union and Kokkinohoria potato producers visited Commerce and Industry Minister Nicos Rolandis to voice their concerns at falling potato prices.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Rolandis said: "The issue that they brought forward was that their potatoes have been and will be sold very cheaply this year."

He said Panagrotiki had told him they would make £12 to £15 million less from potato crops this year, adding the union had also wanted to know about his ministry's plans for their sector.

But Rolandis said profits would be down because of lower prices due to over- production -- "they had their own ideas how to handle this," he added.

The Minister said the union would be presenting him their demands in detail and that he would be taking these before the Cabinet on Thursday.

"I understand that from the £17 million that they will make, approximately £13 or £14 million will not go to them, but to the Potato Marketing Board and for arrangement fees, so what is left for them is little."

Rolandis said the government felt that the international market had played a role in the loss, "but the potato producers have their own opinions."

"Potatoes are one of Cyprus' basic exports and difficulties are to be expected when World Trade Organisation rules are applied."

He said he would be contacting the Potato Marketing Board later in the day.

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Tuesday, June 29, 1999

[07] Refugees will not return: Denktash

As a result, he added, "the Greek Cypriots have settled down in properties once belonging to the Turkish Cypriots and they became one of the richest countries of the Mediterranean."

His statements came on the day when it was announced that up to 30 more applicants would be following the lead of Titina Loizidou and taking Turkey to the EU court of human rights over their inability to enjoy their property in the occupied areas.

Christos Clerides, the lawyer who is handling many of the cases, said that because of the success of the Loizidou case, many more were expected, and that 30 so far had been accepted.

Achilleas Demetriades, who handled the Loizidou case, said he believed her success has opened the door for other cases to follow, but that these had to be undertaken in a serious manner.

Michaelis Hapeshis, a refugee with a case pending said

"I believe that all the refugees should submit applications to the EU court. It's something that would give refugees a sense of satisfaction that we are doing something, we are not just sitting and waiting for something to happen."

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Tuesday, June 29, 1999

[08] Galanos urges Clerides to accept UN talks invitation

Galanos was talking after meeting with President Glafcos Clerides within the framework of a series of meetings between the President and party leaders.

Galanos said there would never be a UN Resolution that could completely satisfy either side: "There will be positive elements for us and elements that we could consider as negative. If you think that there will ever be a resolution from the UN or any other international organisation, with the current status quo and the role Turkey plays, that will be one hundred per cent positive for us then I think that we would be living in another universe."

He said that what was most important was for "certain basic things to be protected, that is to say that any initiatives and talks will be carried out under UN Resolutions."

"Beyond this," Galanos continued, "unless there is a complete turnaround by the UN and unless the Turkish side changes it stance, we do not have the luxury to turn down talks."

He said the Greek Cypriot side had to maintain a positive outlook on UN initiatives. Unficyp chief of mission dame Ann Hercus' role "is to support the negotiation process and UN policy, and we must wait for her instructions," he added.

Galanos said Hercus did not receive her instructions from "the US government or any other government, but she should be careful not to act beyond the boundaries of her jurisdiction and she should also be careful to keep a balanced stance."

He was referring to press reports suggesting Hercus had called for certain details to be removed from UN Resolutions in order to create a "better environment" for negotiations with the Turkish Cypriot side.

The government is waiting for the UN resolutions to be passed before it responds officially to the Secretary-general's invitation to talks.

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Tuesday, June 29, 1999

[09] Two held after massive drugs find

Two men a Cypriot and a Lebanese Cypriot were arrested in the operation, police said.

The drugs, with a street value of over two million pounds, were found at an outhouse belonging to 58-year-old Stelios Kattis in the Dhekelia British base. The place was raided by members of the Cyprus drug squad and SBA police.

Kattis, from Ormidhia, was arrested along with the Lebanese Cypriot man, who has been identified only as Elias. Kattis has been arrested before on drugs charges. Both are expected in court today.

[10] A fatal gesture of assistance

Nicos Andreaou Toumaniou, 31, was buried in Eptagonia, Limassol yesterday after succumbing to his injuries on Sunday.

His kidneys were yesterday transplanted to two patients.

Toumaniou's father told reporters that doctors had told the family that his son would die if he was taken off life-support machines. "As humanists, we, my wife and family, offered that his organs be used to help save our fellow man."

Unfortunately, Toumaniou's other organs were not suitable for transplant after being damaged in the fall.

The accident happened on Friday afternoon when the Toumaniou's wife's cousin realised she had locked her house keys into her first floor home next door.

The father of two offered to climb onto her balcony and open her front door, and put a ladder onto the side of the house. As he was climbing, he fell from the ladder, knocking his head as he hit the ground.

He was rushed to Limassol general hospital where serious cranial damage was diagnosed. Toumaniou was then taken by ambulance to Nicosia general hospital where he succumbed to his injuries on Sunday.

He was an employee of the Agios Tychonas Improvement Board and left behind a wife and two daughters aged two and four.

His family yesterday asked those attending the funeral to donate money to Toumaniou's wife and children instead of buying wreaths and flowers for his grave.

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Tuesday, June 29, 1999

[11] Computer delivery delays costing tax payer big money

The computer scandal was uncovered by Auditor-general Stella Yiorkadji, who has written to Finance Minister Takis Clerides highlighting the cost to the tax payer.

According to the Auditor-general, the delay in supplying computers means the technology is out of date by the time it is installed, costing the government tens of thousands of pounds.

Checking the accounts of the information service department, Yiorkadji observed that only in 28 instances out of 207 (13.5 per cent) was equipment delivered within the delay specified by the tender.

In the other 179 (86.5 per cent) cases, there were delays of up to 14 months.

And the Auditor-general argues that in an industry where prices are in continuous freefall, the agreed price for the equipment is no longer realistic after such delays.

She is also unhappy about the time it takes (up to 259 days) for state inspectors to check whether the equipment delivered satisfies all the technical specifications of the tender.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

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