SEMI-government employees will hold a 24-hour warning strike on December 1 if the government fails to improve a proposal for the renewal of their collective agreements by the end of this month.
The decision was taken during an emergency union meeting yesterday afternoon and announced by OIO-SEK general-secretary, Nikos Tampas.
Tampas said a letter would also be sent to Labour Minister Christos Taliadoros informing him that the unions were prepared to co-operate towards finding a peaceful solution to the issue by November 30.
“Otherwise we will be obliged, in light of the situation, to go ahead with our decision to hold a 24-hour strike,” he said.
Tampas said the unions’ decision to strike had been forced after the Labour Ministry’s mediation service had failed to submit a new, revised proposal by lunchtime yesterday. In a joint announcement unions, OIO-SEK and SIDIKEK-PEO, said semi-government organisation employees would give the employers until the end of November to submit an improved, satisfactory proposal for the renewal of their collective agreements, which terminated on December 31 last year.
The unions called on the government to take advantage of the time between now and the end of the month to solve the problem through dialogue in order to secure labour peace. Failing that, they will go ahead with a 24-hour warning strike on December 1. The unions said the responsibility for this undesirable development would lie entirely with the employers’ side.
Speaking on CyBC radio, Tampas said the present collective agreement, submitted on September 8, proposed a three-year contract with zero salary increases for the first two years and a two per cent increase for the third year.
He said: “We cannot accept this nor can we support it… we want this sum to be increased and for part of it to be paid in the second year.”
Tampas said the government was well aware what proposal would be considered satisfactory and supported by the unions and said he hoped the situation would be resolved without having to go ahead with the strike measures.
Backing down on the dispute would breach a government austerity package hinging on a public sector wage freeze, essential to curtail the spiralling public deficit.
