Karousos confident bus issues will be resolved at Saturday meeting

Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos said on Friday he is confident that problems facing Nicosia bus company employees will be resolved at a meeting he, the labour minister and representatives of the company and employees will hold on Saturday.

The employees went back to work on Thursday, six days after walking off the job on Friday in protest at the dismissal of 36 employees from the Nicosia and Larnaca units of the bus company.

The dismissals were revoked, Larnaca employees went back to work on Tuesday, but their Nicosia counterparts held out for another day demanding action to resolve problems relating to their working conditions.

Their decision to return to work opened the way for mediation efforts to get underway. Karousos had on Wednesday urged employees to end their strike and sit round the table, as their Larnaca counterparts had done, to address all their problems.

Speaking to reporters after the March 25 student parade in Paralimni on Friday, Karousos noted that the strike in Nicosia had ended.

“Together with the labour minister, the employees, the trade unions and the company we will have a meeting a series of consultations so that we can resolve several problems facing public transportation in Nicosia, just as we did with Larnaca,” he said.

He said he had no doubt that there will be agreement on all issues tomorrow, in the interest of all and of public transportation, he added.

In a joint statement on Thursday, Peo and Sek trade union confederations expressed their readiness to negotiate in good faith to resolve all problems to avoid similar disputes in the future.

Otherwise, “the workers will have no choice but to assert their claims vigorously,” they warned.

As stated in their announcement, the main problems concern the timetables, the implementation of existing legislation, particularly in the area of health and safety, adequate infrastructure and others.