Insulted welfare officials down tools after Labour Minister criticises their behaviour
WELFARE DEPARTMENT officials yesterday went on a one-hour wildcat strike after Labour Minister Antonis Vasiliou reportedly accused them of needing lessons in good behaviour.
PASYDY union representative Christos Papadopoulos said it was unacceptable that the minister wanted to “sit us down on school desks and give us lessons in behaviour”. He called on Vasiliou to retract his recent statement.
“Welfare officers have good manners and work in unfavourable conditions. These statements are unacceptable and we ask that they be retracted. We don’t need lessons,” he said.
Papadopoulos warned that Welfare Department employees would take further action if the minister did not show regret. The union official said all the staff could not be tainted by one or two bad apples.
“If the minister has evidence (of bad behaviour), we ask that he proceed through the normal legal channels. Launch an investigation… We will not cover anyone. We want to work with dignity and offer proper services to Cypriot citizens.”
Papadopoulos called on the minister to spend one day at the welfare offices and see how unbearable the situation was. The Welfare Department has long complained to successive governments that their workload has increased many times over in the last two decades though staff numbers have remained the same.
For his part, Vasiliou was unrepentant, highlighting that the problem could not be ignored.
“I never said anything in my opinion which was insulting to officials. On the contrary I have said many times I respect and appreciate their contribution but I receive on a daily basis masses of complaints from citizens who complain about the way they are treated and the service they receive from welfare officers,” he said.
“Many complaints are unjustified or exaggerated, but not all. I cannot turn a deaf ear, or be blind or indifferent. For all these citizens to complain, it means somewhere there is a problem,” he added.
Vasiliou said welfare officers should take into account that citizens who seek help from the welfare services already have enough problems of their own.
“All this commotion really shocks me because my aim is clear. I have told them many times I seek their cooperation. I don’t do things ‘my way’. I take into account what they say,” said Vasiliou.
The minister hinted that the majority were being led astray by a few. “My door is open for cooperation with the officials and union, but first it must be made perfectly clear, we have a job to do: to tackle, listen, and solve the problems of Cypriot citizens.”
