Cyprus - General strike against reform package - January 31, 2011

On 28 January, more than 30 000 Turkish Cypriot workers participated in a massive meeting and a general strike organised by the union movement and supported by opposition parties and NGOs. Over 10,000 participated in a rallye in northern Nicosia. The aim of meeting and strike was to say no to the “reform package” of the Turkish Cypriot government, which would hurt fundamental workers’ rights. Dubbed the “destruction package” by the organizing platform, the raft of austerity measures will cut civil service salaries by up to 40%, and foresees the sell-off of a number of state-owned firms such as the electricity and telecommunications providers.

English: http://www.ituc-csi.org/cyprus-30-000-workers-say-no-to.html;

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/we-re-stuck-between-turkey-and-greek-cypriots ...

This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2011.