Cyprus Mail www.cyprus-mail.com
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
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State committed to CY rescue plan Communications minister says time running out to discuss better deal By Stefanos Evripidou
O
NE WAY or another the government will implement the rescue plan for national carrier Cyprus Airways (CY), Labour Minister Zeta Emilianidou said yesterday in a veiled warning to the CY board, which submitted its resignation earlier this week. Communications Minister Tasos Mitsopoulos echoed his colleague, noting that time was running out for more dialogue. If the airline is going to survive, there is little room for manoeuvre, he said. Board members handed in their resignation en masse in protest against last month’s decision to allocate around €20 million of company funds to compensate staff made redundant as part of a last-ditch effort to save the airline from closure. The sum agreed between the government, board and airline unions last month was 50 per cent of the compensation package offered by the company in its last redundancy plan. It is understood the compensation offered is over and above what CY employees are entitled to by law; a common practice within the wider public sector, though rarely seen in private sector redundancy deals. According to government sources, before leaving office, the previous government had agreed with the unions in December to give 80 per cent of the original compensation package. When the unions met with
the current government and board in April, they negotiated the figure down to 50 per cent. However, on Monday, the board reportedly sent a letter to President Nicos Anastasiades listing its grievances with the latest arrangement to rescue the airline based on a government proposal to reduce operating costs, which includes a redundancy package for 490 members, and the downsizing of its fleet by four planes. Three Lufthansa consultants will also be hired for a nine-month period to oversee implementation of the rescue plan. Since the April agreement, two CY planes have already been returned while the leases on a further two are due to be rescinded. Redundancies are expected to start next week, while compensation will be paid out in stages, starting in 2014. The government is also on the lookout for a strategic investor after Middle East Airlines declared they were no longer interested. According to reports, the board’s biggest problem lies with the €20m the airline will have to find from the company’s depleted assets and hand over in compensation to staff made redundant. Meanwhile the government’s own hands are tied by the European Commission which opened an “indepth investigation” last March into whether €104 million in state aid granted to CY complies with EU state aid rules. When making the an-
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Bone marrow donors found for sick boy
Tourists got caught out in a rainstorm in Nicosia yesterday as they took a tour round the capital on Segway as the bad weather continues (Christos Theodorides)
FIVE viable bone marrow donors have been found for five-year-old George Philippides from Kili in Paphos who has been diagnosed with leukaemia and needed urgent treatment. The good news was given to the Philipides family on Monday according to the boy’s uncle, Marios Philippides. He revealed yesterday that during the last few days suitable donors had been found in five countries including Germany, Israel and the USA, although only two of those donors were currently available. According to Philippides, if the donor is from a country in the same region then arrangements are made to bring that person to Cyprus in order to carry out specialised examinations to see if they are a match with the little boy. According to the head of Paediatrics at the Makarios Hospital, Loizos Loizou, both available donors are around 90 per cent compatible with the young boy. The final decision on any donor is made by the doctors, the uncle told reporters, adding that the family was awaiting news from them to see when to take the 5-year-old to a medical centre in Germany in two weeks to perform the operation. George is currently being cared for in the paediatric wing of the Makarios Hospital in Nicosia where he will remain until he leaves for Germany. He has two older brothers aged 18 and 21. A campaign began in April to find a suitable donor for him. Last month national guardsman, Andreas Vassiliou, who had received a successful bone marrow transplant in 2000, made a public plea for a donor to be found for the five-year-old.