Hourly paid civil servants set September 17 strike deadline over pay

Nicosia, Cyprus. Hourly paid civil servants will proceed with a nationwide strike on September 17 unless the government submits a revised pay proposal, representatives of three trade unions said on Thursday.

The unions said there had been no developments since the strike decision was formally announced on August 5.

Union demands

The civil servants’ union branch Oekdy-SEK, the democratic labour federation Deok and the construction workers branch of Pasyek-PEO represent around 7,500 hourly paid government employees.

Speaking for Oekdy-SEK, George Constantinou said the unions were awaiting a government response to calls for continued negotiations on general wage increases for hourly paid staff.

“Our goal is not to strike or cause suffering to the public or workers,” he said. “Our goal is to reach an agreement that improves wages, which are very low.”

Constantinou said any change in the unions’ position depended on the government entering meaningful dialogue and agreeing to raise pay for its lowest earners. He described the affected employees as among the lowest paid in the country compared with private-sector equivalents.

He said he hoped that “reason and a humane approach” would prevail.

Planned action

Stavros Andreou of Pasyek-PEO said workers were awaiting the convening of six ministerial committees provided for under joint labour committee regulations in cases of disagreement, as well as a possible revised government offer.

He said the strike would go ahead on September 17 if no acceptable proposal was made beforehand. Hourly paid employees at public schools, government departments and public hospitals are expected to participate.

Andreou described the planned action as a last resort and said measures would be escalated if the government did not respond differently.