Larnaca bus drivers extended their strike indefinitely on Wednesday, escalating measures against their employer Zenon, as a two hour meeting with the transport ministry failed to end existing industrial action.
Union reps from SEK, PEO and DEOK along with Zenon shareholders and Cyprus Employers and Industrialists’ Federation had a two-hour meeting with transport ministry general secretary Alecos Michaelides in the morning.
Starting at 11:30am, Michaelides had to cut off discussions at least twice as he tried to bridge the differences between the two parties.
Transport Minister Marios Demetriades was briefed after the meeting, which reaped no positive results, was concluded.
At 4pm, all union members held a general meeting where they decided to hold an indefinite strike.
The strike measures had started on Monday at 5am and were scheduled to last 24 hours.
As the day went on however, it was extended to 48 hours set to end on Thursday 5am, unless developments decreed otherwise.
The dispute stems from a collective agreement signed in 2014, slashing employees’ salaries. As it expired in December 2015, unions now say paycheques need to revert to the higher scale.
Unions claim that while they agreed to a slash in their salary in a bid to help the company stay afloat, those higher up in the company saw their own income increase.
On the first day the measures were in place, drivers said they had received threats, coming from Zenon itself.
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