BANK employees will go on strike for two hours tomorrow, threatening to take it “as far as it goes” unless the government agrees to exclude them from contributing to the National Health Plan, expected to be implemented in about a year’s time.
Announcing the decision, the secretary general of the bank employees’ union ETYK, Loizos Hadjicostis, said the strike – from 10.30am to 12.30 – would be the first in a series of measures.
Responding to the threats, Health Minister Frixos Savvides said there was no chance he would agree to satisfying the union’s demands.
Bank employees, who are already provided with medical coverage by employers, argue the health plan will be a total disaster.
“We are positive that a National Health Plan will be ineffective as it is in most European countries such as Greece and Britain. Our medical coverage works just fine and we do not want to give it up,” said Hadjicostis.
“We are the only union asking to be excluded from the health plan. I do think that if the plan covered 97 per cent of the population instead of 100 per cent it would make it less operational,” he added.
Hadjicostis argued the government was reluctant to exclude bank employees from the national plan, fearing it would pale in comparison to currently private plans covering his members.
The national scheme will cover the basic medical needs of all Cypriots – expenses, including doctors’ appointments, medicines, common operations etc. Working people will contribute less than five per cent of their salaries to the public health fund, according to their financial situation and marital status.
Bank employees currently pay about one to two per cent of their salary to be covered by bank medical plans, which cover about 70 per cent of medical expenses.
The Health Minister yesterday dismissed the bank employees’ demands as unacceptable, and said they would not to be satisfied.
“ETYK have never discussed the matter with the government and have not convinced me that their demands are worth looking into. They just want to create a gap between them and other employees. And all the others will have to pay more to cover the cash shortfall,” Savvides said.
“We want everyone to enjoy the same social benefits.”
The minister expressed his belief that most bank employees would not support their union’s decision to take action demanding to be excluded from the National Health Plan.
One bank employee yesterday told the Cyprus Mail he would not mind being included in the national plan.
“It would cost me a little bit more but I am not selfish. The National Health Plan would benefit those who are not as wealthy as I am and we should all contribute to it.”
But he pointed out some weaknesses of the NHP highlighted by his union.
“ETYK objects to the plan partly because it provides that we would not be able to see a doctor of our choice. We would have to see a family GP who would direct us to a specialised doctor of his or her choice according to the kind of health problem,” 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.
