Trade unions have announced to spend 2016 battling to restore the lost rights of members and to continue the struggle for the improvement of working conditions. The SEK trade union wants to pursue in 2016 the implementation of a number of measures aiming at the improvement the conditions of employees. SEK representatives said the union would claim in 2016 better living standards and the ‘gradual recovery of income and benefits lost in previous years’. AKEL affiliated PEO union, invited all employees, to ‘battle united’ to restore labour rights, for an end to austerity, and for a fair distribution of growth. The union criticised the government for the ‘neoliberal restructuring of the economy ‘, and the ‘harsh austerity measures’ agreed with the troika, which resulted in a major setback as regards the living standards of workers, and led to widened social inequalities. DEOK union, affiliated with socialist party EDEK, called on workers to claim the future they deserve ‘dynamically and with decisiveness’. DEOK criticised the government for not delivering what it promised, thus, the social welfare state was replaced by food banks.
English: http://cyprus-mail.com/2015/12/31/unions-vow-to-restore-lost-rights-in-2016/
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.