Building strike continues

BUILDERS continued their islandwide, indefinite strike yesterday with no apparent end in sight as trade unions SEK, PEO and DEOK have threatened that measures may escalate. 

In a statement released yesterday, PEO gave its full support to the builders in their fight against their employers.

“For a long time, employers in the construction industry in Cyprus, citing the crisis and difficulties in the industry, have started an attack on the working class. They have systematically dismissed large numbers of workers and replaced them with cheap labour, increasing unemployment and the impoverishment of the families of thousands of workers,” the statement said.

The builders have organised demonstrations for today after the decision to continue their strike was made yesterday during meetings across Cyprus. They criticised their employers for taking advantage of cheap foreign workers, essentially taking the industry back ten years and destroying the trade union movement.

The central council of the Building Contractors’ Association in Cyprus will meet today to consider a proposal from the Labour Ministry.

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.