THE CIVIL servants umbrella union PASYDY warned yesterday they would not accept others deciding austerity measures that would affect them, and accused MPs of ignoring their own benefits while seeking to make savings from others’..
PASYDY boss Glafkos Hadjipetrou said state workers understood the problems created by the economic crisis and those that emerged after the July 11 explosion and would not object to contribute their share.
But “we do not accept others deciding that only we will contribute and what rights we will continue to have and refusing us social dialogue,” Hadjipetrou said.
“Instead of cooperating with the unions in finding solutions collectively, some people think it is a chance to abolish the rights won by civil servants in the past 30 to 40 years,” Hadjipetrou said. “We will not accept new civil servants to serve for the next 30 years on a salary that goes back 20 years.”
Hadjipetrou wondered what a civil servant with 40 years of service should make if an MP who served 10 years receives a €210,000 bonus and a €3,800 pension from the age of 60. “Shouldn’t these gentlemen, who have decided to slash the rights of state workers, make a sacrifice themselves and deal with their own income, which are a second salary,” Hadjipetrou said, suggesting that being an MP was a second job for many lawmakers.
“We respect MPs but at the same time we demand they respect us,” he said. Hadjipetrou announced that the proposed measures will be discussed by the union on Tuesday.
He stressed that the aim was not to proceed with industrial action, adding that their message was “a plea for dialogue and cooperation.”
Hadjipetrou attacked DISY deputy chairman Averof Neophytou, accusing him of trying to push through a tax amnesty of sorts that would have cost the state millions in lost revenues.
The bill provides that people who owe taxes going as far back as 2008, would only be charged with a 5.0 per cent penalty provided they pay their dues in full by the end of this year.
“To us, the reasons for which we cannot collect (taxes) are self-explanatory,” Hadjipetrou said. “If we propose special arrangements every one or two years of course they will not pay.”
Responding to Hadjipetrou’s accusation, Neophytou said the proposal was made by the party’s parliamentary group and not him.
He added that “at a time when all political parties understand and realise (President) Demetris Christofias’ destructive economic policy, Mr. Hadjipetrou, acting as Demetris Christofias’ self-appointed mouthpiece, once more rushes to provide him with wooden crutches in his desperate loneliness.”
