Union opposes later retirement for civil servants

CIVIL servants’ union Pasydy yesterday objected to a government proposal to extend the retirement age for government employees.

The idea was mooted by Finance Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou as a cost-cutting measure after it was revealed that the cost of a single civil servant from hiring to retiring was half a million pounds – not including pensions.

Christodoulou suggested retirement age be moved from the current 60 to 65 or 67. Paying a civil servant for an extra few years service would cost the state less than forking out for a retiree’s pension and a wage for his replacement.

But the chairman of Pasydy, Glafcos Hadjipetrou, said yesterday the idea would be “bad” both for the service and the country as a whole.

“Young people need to be given the chance of employment in the civil service, one of the most secure postings in the land,” he said.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.