Postal workers suspend their strike

By Charlie Charalambous

POSTAL workers are to tackle the huge backlog of letters in earnest after suspending their overtime ban in favour of talks.

With millions of letters and parcels stacking up during the industrial action, it is expected to take weeks before the system gets back to normal.

And extra part-time staff may be called in to speed up the process.

Postal employees, represented by civil service union Pasydy, agreed to suspend their work to rule and any further strike action in favour of mediation.

Union representatives will hold a meeting with Finance Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou and Labour Minister Andreas Moushiouttas on Thursday.

Previously, the government had refused to negotiate a settlement under the threat of strike action.

Both sides have agreed to honour and apply agreements signed in 1990 and 1993, which concern pay and conditions in the postal service.

Postal workers took industrial action claiming the government had reneged on agreements to phase out contract staff and provide permanent positions in the public sector.

They also raised fears that the government was planning to privatise the service because it was employing temporary staff only.

However, Communications Minister Leontios Ierodiaconou has denied that the postal service will be sold off to the private sector.

He said there might be some form of liberalisation, but ownership would still belong to the state.

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.