Filenews 7 July 2021
The lifeguards put a three-hour lock on all the lifeguards in Cyprus next Friday, following yesterday's decision by the Cyprus Association of Professional Lifeguards (PSEN) to escalate its mobilizations due to the lack of resolution of its long-term demands.
An open letter from the PSEN to the Ministries of Interior and Finance states that the decision was taken yesterday at an extraordinary General Assembly of its members, which "will descend into a cyprus three-hour working warning post with the closure of all lifeguards, from 10:30 to 13:30, in protest at the non-implementation of our requests for several years".
In particular, it is recalled that the requests concern the immediate upgrading of the salary scale for the lifeguard profession and the immediate withdrawal of the decision of 6 May 2019 by the Joint Labour Committee, 'which unfairly removed lifeguards from joining regular hourly government staff under 12-month employment'.
In addition, lifeguards are calling for the profession to be guaranteed by the adoption of a Bill, with the aim of classifying it as a regulated profession, due to the European recognized and guaranteed qualifications of lifeguards and the nature of work, as it concerns the provision of First Aid and the rescue of human life on the beaches of Cyprus.
Among the requests are the improvement of working conditions, the upgrading of the logistics equipment, in accordance with the operational plan "SALAMIS" and the establishment of an independent service concerning lifesaving exclusively, without scattering the responsibilities between 3-4 bodies.
At the same time, organised lifeguards declare their preparedness for further escalation of the measures "if and when our fair demands are not implemented or not heard and put into practice".
They also call on all guilds to stand by them, "because the preservation of the rights and the upgrading of our lifeguards and service will first of all upgrade the safety of our beaches, the safety of our fellow citizens and compatriots and tourists who visit our Cyprus all year round.
We cannot, the letter concludes, be in this unfavourable and miserable situation, when one of the main sources of inflow of money into the economy of Cyprus is our tourism.
