CIVIL servants and employees of the broader public sector yesterday voted overwhelmingly for industrial action, including possible strikes, should legislators tamper with a government austerity package that among other things envisions minor pay cuts.
PASYDY, the civil servants’ blanket union, said their vote was organised in order to authorise the union leadership to take a “dynamic response” if there are any deviations from the agreed economic package when it comes before the House plenum this Thursday.
Speaking to reporters last night, with the secret ballot still ongoing, PASYDY boss Glafcos Hadjipetrou said the vote had so far returned a 93 per cent result in favour of a proposal for possible industrial action.
A similar ballot was taken by the SEK union. Ninety-five percent of their members said “yes”.
The SEK ballot concerned some 7,500 people employed in semi-governmental organisations and in local administration. Some SGOs, such as Cyprus Airways, did not take part in the vote.
Senior SEK official Nikos Tambas said a little over 4,000 voted, attributing the turnout to the fact many people are currently on summer leave.
The SEK vote actually took place over several days (starting last Thursday).
Opposition parties have been highly critical of the government package, calling it a stopgap measure addressing only immediate deficit concerns but stopping short of much-needed fiscal consolidation over the long term.
The package before parliament represents a watered-down version of a deal struck between the parties and the government on 22 July, before separate deliberations between the administration and the unions.
The latter have grudgingly agreed to the measures, but warn they aren’t prepared for more.
“We consider that what we have given so far is enough,” Tambas told the Mail.
The batch of government bills is heavily geared to tax hikes to increase state revenue, with also limited cuts to pay and benefits for civil servants and workers in the broader public sector.
Newcomers in the civil service are to be included in the social insurance fund on the same conditions as the private sector.
Civil servants will receive a three per cent pay cut on their gross earnings for a period of three years. The same applies to pensions.
Observers say the concessions are a damp squib; civil servants will continue to receive their annual salary increments, effectively neutralising the three per cent pay cuts.
The government has promised a second package of measures at a later date focusing more on curbing state expenditure.
According to SEK’s Tambas, the unions have also agreed to a 10 per cent reduction in entry-level wage brackets, for a period of two years. This, he said, was not part of the government bills but would be incorporated in the budget for 2012.
“Two things may happen on Thursday. Either the parties will bin the government bills and then draft their own proposals, or they may try to alter the government package. Either way, we shall not accept such a unilateral action,” said Tambas.
Meanwhile during a meeting yesterday to discuss the government bills, Nikos Anastasiades, leader of the main opposition party DISY, and the heads of the PASYDY, SEK and PEO unions, agreed to disagree.
SEK boss Nikos Moiseos nevertheless called the meeting “constructive”, noting that at least the “two sides are now better informed of the other’s views”.
Asked whether DISY alerted the unions of potential amendments by the parties to the government bills, Moiseos said they had received no such briefing.
