By Constantinos Psilides
PARLIAMENTARY party leaders decided yesterday to postpone a decision to cut 3.0 per cent off civil servants’ 13th salaries.
A final decision on the matter will be taken next week.
The delay was requested by DISY leader Averof Neophytou according to party MP Nikos Nouris, “so that the party can formulate a more comprehensive plan”.
“The DISY leader wants to tackle the issue personally but he is currently abroad so he asked for the decision to be postponed”, Nouris said.
The promotion of the DISY proposal will largely depend on the support from other parliamentary groups, according to Nouris.
The cut was proposed by House president Yiannakis Omirou earlier this month. The aim was to collect around €6m to distribute as a Christmas bonus to needy families.
Greens MP Giorgos Perdikis said that the 3.0 per cent cut is “a done deal” and that anything else discussed on the subject is merely to “pass the time”.
AKEL MP Yiannos Lamaris said that his party will not be supporting any pay cuts, asking instead that the money for needy families to be raised from companies that reported profits this year.
“Some companies reported profits of up to €4m in 2013. We should not be under the illusion that because we are in a recession some people aren’t making money. There are some who make more money just because we are in a recession,” Lamaris added, suggesting that the state establish a solidarity fund to support the needy.
He asked the government to reassess the immovable property tax, claiming that “85 per cent of people paid the tax whereas only half of companies did so”.
The proposed cut infuriated public workers union PASYDY, who threatened with a two-hour strike that was cancelled as it was scheduled to take place in the week of the funeral of former president Glafcos Clerides.
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