Nurses unions call off planned strike action

NURSES from public servants’ union PASYDY on Friday called off the six-hour strike they had announced for Monday, following a meeting with Health Minister Giorgos Pamporidis.

The head of PASYDY’s nursing branch Prodromos Argyrides, told the Cyprus Mail they decided to call off the strike after they received reassurances from Pamporidis that their demand to unfreeze 185 nursing job posts was being dealt with.

“There will also be a meeting soon of the joint staff committee to discuss the rest of the issues. There is clear intention on behalf of the ministry to promote these issues to the committee,” Argyrides said.

PASYDY’s nursing branch had announced last week that its members would go on strike on Monday, between 7.30am and 1.30pm.

The nurses’ main grievances are the state’s refusal to lift a freeze on permanent positions as well as promotions, the refusal to discuss and improve the employment status of contract staff, and the deduction of 10 per cent from the salary of contract staff who have completed 24 months of service. Another reason they said, was the “severe under-staffing” of departments.

Meanwhile, nurses union PASYNO, which on Friday announced it would join their colleagues – the members of PASYDY – “out of solidarity”, also decided to call off its strike measures.

PASYNO included in their demands the need for nurses’ degrees to be equated with university-degree level. “This demand is pending since 2011 and it is the most appropriate moment for an effective dialogue with timeframes, based on the principle of equal and fair treatment of employees of the civil service with a university degree,” an announcement said.

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.