SEMI-STATE unions said yesterday they were not going to accept privatisations without a fight, announcing a series of meetings to decide future steps as a whole.
PEO’s Antonis Neophytou said that they would not allow the “selling out” of semi-governmental organisations. “All Cypriots will react and so workers are ready and have decided to respond but unions will have to coordinate and (do so) in collaboration with all unions,” Neophytou said.
He said that despite the government’s claim to the contrary, no one could be sure that jobs were safe and with “unions not given a chance to discuss this issue” they had a responsibility to put the pressure on to prevent privatisations.
Starting next week, PEO will have a series of meetings to chart out future actions and “salvage what has been built on over decades in Cyprus”.
SEK’s Andreas Elia made similar statements but fell short of calling an all-out protest or work stoppages, saying those would be “extreme” measures that unions did not take lightly.
Elia said that “workers (were) definitely worried” with talks of privatisation “justifiably creating insecurity”.
The Electricity Authority (EAC) said yesterday that the consumer benefited from their status as a semi-governmental organisation, with the EAC board unanimously agreeing this week they should continue being a public benefit body. The board said it would take all necessary action to prevent the EAC’s privatisation.
The draft memorandum of understanding struck between the previous government and the troika said that if “necessary to restore debt sustainability, the Cyprus authorities will consider a privatisation programme for state-owned and semi-public companies”.
Labour minister Harris Georgiades yesterday said that as far as the draft memorandum agreement went, their hands were tied given the memorandum agreement by the previous government. But he said that President Nicos Anastasiades was trying to see how to handle “this very difficult issue”.
AKEL chief Andros Kyprianou, whose party is now in opposition after five years of government, yesterday repeated accusations that the government did a U-turn and had by now “clearly accepted privatisations” trying to appease workers and the public with “shaky arguments”.
Ruling party DISY’s Lefteris Christoforou said that Kyprianou was insulting people since “it was they who handed over” a bankrupt economy and an unsigned bailout memorandum.
“Nicos Anastasiades ‘government has been trying to salvage in 14 days what can be saved from the wreck left behind by AKEL’s populism and five years of (Demetris) Christofias’ bankrupt government,” Christoforou said.