OPPOSITION DISY yesterday voiced concern over press reports on potential job cuts at the state broadcasting corporation.
The right-wing party said it was troubled and concerned by recent reports that a number of staff at CyBC would be getting the sack.
“We wholly disagree with the rationale of ‘we decide and we command’ that’s being promoted by the CyBC management, which under the pretence of cleaning up its act, is essentially promoting full party control over the corporation and the scandalous promotion of its own people at the expense of low wage-earners,” said the statement.
The party recognised the need for measures to make the state broadcaster more effective but argued that the CyBC budget for 2004 had already been approved a long time ago and that the government was now seeking arbitrary cuts in expenditure and mass layoffs.
The party said that no dialogue had been carried out with staff unions in an effort to sort out the finances of the broadcaster. It charged the management with pushing for mass layoffs while at the same time and without transparency, negotiating the employment of high-earning staff at the station.
“We condemn again the autocratic government practice of promoting layoffs without dialogue or transparent criteria, the aim being the exercise of suffocating party control,” said the DISY announcement. “We strongly oppose the victimisation of CyBC employees, those of Cyprus Airways and any other employees,” it ended.
The management and the board at CyBC ruffled feathers last week when papers reported their plans to cut up to 50 jobs in the wake of government demands to cut high costs.
The unions reacted to the rumours of drastic job cuts with threats that if these reports were realised, they would take immediate strike action without warning.
On Wednesday, SEK’s Nicos Tampas called for a comprehensive study on the role of the state broadcaster combined with dialogue between the unions and management for the taking of collective decisions.
“In the case that the board continues with these layoffs unilaterally, our reaction will be immediate and without warning. We cannot accept these unilateral positions and decisions,” he said.
Finance Minister Makis Keravnos repeated that his ministry had not given any instructions to carry out job cuts. “The government position is that the procedure should continue through dialogue. We never talked about layoffs in the convergence plan,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
The government is reportedly seeking expenditure cuts of between two and five million pounds. Up to 50 employees are rumoured to be on the axe list.
According to reports, the state broadcaster pays around £1 million in overtime each year.
