A RULING party bill that puts a halt on public sector promotions was yesterday rejected by unions which suggested it will not yield any significant savings but it will create operational problems.
DISY deputy chairman Averof Neophytou, who tabled the proposal, said the objective was to send a message of social justice, as unemployment – currently close 15 per cent -- could double in the next year.
The bill could affect around 1,000 vacant positions in the public service.
The House Finance Committee heard that under current legislation, it would be impossible not to give a promotion without a pay rise.
Pay increases have been frozen in the public sector, as was recruitment, in en effort to shore up the island’s economy on the brink of collapse.
No figures were given concerning the potential savings.
Committee chairman Nicolas Papadopoulos said that most unions had expressed their readiness to discuss alternative solutions such as promotions without the accompanying pay increase or returning the money to the state in the form of a contribution.
PASYDY, the union of central government workers, said structural problems would not be solved if promotions were frozen.
The union’s senior secretary Andreas Louka also suggested that it would be wrong to pass the bill but exempt certain sectors.
Such sectors could be the armed forces and the police whose representatives asked to be exempted due to the nature of their duties.
“If we do not want a National Guard just say so,” one army official said. “The army needs a hierarchy to function,” he added, warning lawmakers that it would deal a blow to morale.
Police officers too want to be exempted, claiming that a freeze in promotions would essentially break up the force.
Unsurprisingly, teachers also strongly opposed the bill, suggesting it will hurt education.
Responding to criticism by the head of the secondary education teachers’ union, Neophytou said when it came to educators, promotions also entailed less working hours.