Larnaca port workers report progress on working conditions

Agreements to upgrade the working conditions for workers at the port of Larnaca, reached with the ports authority in December, have led to notable improvements with further measures currently underway, trade unions Peo and Sek said on Friday.

“Hygiene conditions in the restrooms have improved, cleaning and improvements to the weighing stations have begun, the names of the members of the safety and health committee of all the involved working sectors at the port have been given, and bids have been put out for some other services for the piers,” Peo representative Nadia Kyritsi told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA).

The unions’ port worker branches had earlier in the day made a joint tour of the port and held a meeting with the port authority’s management to discuss an agreement signed before Christmas.

“We believe that we are on the right track and that several things have been started and are being implemented, which were possible to do within these first three weeks,” said Sek representative Charalambos Avgousti.

He said that the majority of issues has since been resolved, reiterating that the union was positive that the remaining problems would be tackled shortly.

The unions said that the safety committee of port workers is set to convene on the matter in early February, while another meeting with the ports authority to review the situation and discuss further measures has been scheduled for March 3.

“We will all be vigilant [and] we do not want to repeat the same unpleasant situations,” Kyritsi concluded.

Larnaca port workers went on strike in December to protest poor working conditions and insufficient safety measures, demanding clean drinking water, clean hygiene facilities and a safe working environment “without potholes or strewn with wires.”