INTERNAL tensions yesterday marked civil servants’ union PASYDY’s electoral conference, which decided a new general council following the shock resignations of 52 general councillors last month.
The electoral conference was forced after over half of the general council resigned en messe on August 10, throwing the 3,000-member union into disarray and uncovering a rift between general secretary Glafcos Hadjipetrou and former chairman of the general council, Antonis Antoniou.
Antoniou insists Hadjipetrou instigated the resignations and has spoken of a “war” against the chairman within the powerful union.
Antoniou and the rest of the general council were elected four months ago.
Hadjipetrou has not aligned himself for or against the outgoing councillors, but has supported “a need for renewal”.
However, there are fears the crisis might split the union in two.
Around 400 PASIDY members yesterday cast their votes in a behind-closed-doors meeting to decide a 96-member general council which will in turn elect the union’s leadership, i.e., the council’s chairman, a central secretariat and an executive committee.
Seventy-one of the council’s members were elected uncontested.
PAISDY members said yesterday the conference had been held in a charged atmosphere and marked by conflicts between senior officials.
After the conference, Antoniou and other senior members of the union charged voters had not been given the chance to express their views and said the resigning councillors had had no time to explain the reasons why they had quit.
“Today’s procedures did not honour us as a trade union. Our primary concern had always been unity, which today, however, suffered a serious blow,” said Antoniou.
“The leadership decided that open discussion was not in line with the union’s constitution,” he added.
Secretary-general Hadjipetrou, however, said the event had been held in a cordial atmosphere and played down fears of a split.
The new general council will convene in a week to elect PASIDY’s leadership. Antoniou will run for re-election.
“I have information that the position will also be contested by another member,” he said.
Sources suggested this would be Andreas Christodoulou.
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.
