Kition employers still awaiting news on work status

Three weeks after their contract termination with Kition Ocean Holdings 13 ex-employees of the company have received no written government commitment in terms of their work status, it emerged on Tuesday.

In a public announcement, the employees said that following a meeting with the ministers of labour and transport on June 3 at Larnaca port, they regretted to state that contracts promised by no later than June 12 had not materialised.

Officials charged with sweeping up the pieces after the collapsed deal, had offered repeated assurances that workers’ jobs were safe and the transition to management of the assets by the Cyprus Ports Authority was going smoothly.

Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades and Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou met with 87 employees on June 3, with trade union reps also in attendance.

However, a group of employees has charged that the written employment contracts, which were to be sent to each of the employees for negotiation with the Larnaca and Famagusta development companies, who were to become their official employers, did not arrive.

“Until [Monday] almost three weeks after the termination of the contract, we have neither received written commitment […] nor information. On the contrary, [an] issue of major importance is (again) slowly being pushed into obscurity,” the employee statement said.

They charge that the meeting was “more about creating impressions ahead of the scheduled elections” than substance.

The employees added they were preparing to take legal action over the matter, saying, “while the fates of the employees of Larnaca port and marina continue to be up in the air, we have instructed our lawyers to study all the facts to ensure our rights.”

Their lawyers had already sent two letters to the relevant ministries without receiving a response, they said, and that those who did not belong to unions had been excluded from consultation.