Beach bar in Rhodes refuses to remove in-sea sunbeds

The sunbeds placed just offshore remain in place as do the structures on the beach. Swimming waiters, trays full of food and drinks for the "elite customers" and prices for strong wallets. The illegal floating sunbed is charged 150 euros.

All this at a time when the public prosecutor's investigation is underway for the beach bar in question in Rhodes, which has been operating illegally and without a license since 2016. MEGA channel's check of the beach bar is revealing.

What the business owner says

According to the manager of the company who spoke to MEGA channel, serving in the water is a choice for workers, while, as he says, everyone is protected from the high temperatures by wearing special clothes.

"The delivery of the orders to the beach chairs is a choice of the employees. No one sits in the water for 2 or 3 hours, they wear special suits that dry in 3 minutes, they have changing rooms and they agree with each other on who will deliver the orders, although most of the time the customers pick up the trays themselves. The shop is licensed and the sunbeds remain in place because they are mobile structures that go in and out."

They won't take down the sunbeds

However, the president of the labor center of Rhodes, Panagiotis Englesos, complains that on the island there is no technical level of inspectors responsible for the safety and hygiene of workers.

"The body of labor inspectors has specific responsibilities, whether the employee is registered with ERGANI, how many hours he is employed and whether he is paid his wages. It cannot check whether the employee has health and safety issues in his workplace."

According to an ultimatum issued by the cadaster office of the island, the beach bar must remove the floating sunbeds by July 21, something however the company does not seem willing to do.

According to the officials of the beach bar, the in-sea sunbeds are mobile, that is, they can be placed and removed at will, therefore they are not considered arbitrary and they do not intend to remove them.

Greek paradox

The paradox of the whole affair is that after successive spot checks, inspections and sometimes stiff fines by the port authorities, the decentralized Aegean administration, the Dodecanese land service and the Ephorate of Antiquities, the business, which is located inside a beach and within the boundaries of an archaeological site, continues to function normally.

What is even more paradoxical is that as many times as the municipality decided to shut down its operation, this was done at the end of October when the summer season was already over.

With their open letter, four municipal councilors request, among other things, the modernization of the legislation concerning the operation of beach bars. As they say, there is no clear operating framework and thus entrepreneurs are driven to illegality.