Limassol bus workers go on strike

There will be no EMEL buses running in Limassol on Tuesday, following a decision by the unions to go on a 48-hour strike over pay.

Thousands of students, workers, and senior citizens will have to make other arrangements or stay home in the next couple of days, after talks between Limassol’s EMEL Bus Company and union representatives from SEK and PEO failed to yield an agreement.

The unions demand that their old benefits be restored, which include salary increases and other benefits based on a 2013 contractual agreement.

The company made salary cuts in 2014 citing the economic crisis but later spoke of additional financial problems which made it difficult to restore the benefits.

The unions insist that the company has an obligation to honour the union contracts fully and staff had been threatening strike action for some time and as recent as early March.

But the company no longer receives the same state subsidies as in the past, before the economic crisis that peaked in 2013, thus budgeting for lower costs per kilometre makes financial obligations tight. 

The unions issued a statement of apology to the public.