Concrete makers strike for overtime pay

Concrete manufacturers and traders went on strike on Thursday, demanding to be paid for overtime worked and a return to their pre-2013 collective labour agreement conditions.

The workers gathered at Chalepianes, near the Nicosia district village of Pera Chorio, on Thursday morning, with trade union Peo secretary-general Sotiroula Charalambous saying workers were demanding “two basic rights”.

“It is well known that when we signed the contract to reduce some of our benefits during the economic crisis to help the construction sector and employers, to help the country’s economy, the signature had an expiration date, and those who signed took this commitment on,” she began.

She added, “societies and workers must go forward, so today, in 2024, we cannot be asked to not be paid overtime, in an industry where the amount of work being done continues to grow.”

She also turned her attention to the labour ministry, and said, “if the ministry wants to resolve this dispute, it must also respect what we had agreed upon and make an intervention on that basis.”

Fellow trade union Sek secretary-general Andreas Matsas said, “right now, the focus of the fight is on us trying to make sure that the time you are forced to spend at work, above and beyond your standard working hours, is paid for in a rewarding way.”

He added, “our effort will be vindicated because it is fair and documented. It is not our intention for this to drag on. Every strike must have a specific horizon to be able to bring a specific result.”

“We are living in a period in which we are trying to regulate, not deregulate, labour relations, to give impetus to the support of human resources and to confirm that the labour market is not only about entrepreneurship, it is about workers themselves,” he said.

Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou appealed to both workers and employers to “reach an agreement” through mediation.

“We appeal to both sides, so that they operate in a consensual manner, so that calm can be restored and we can reach an agreement through the ministry’s mediation,” he said.

He added, “in Cyprus, there is stability and normality, because we can discuss and agree, to take advantage of the possibilities provided by social dialogue.

“In our region, there is fluidity, there is a worrying geopolitical situation for which we have the responsibility internally to try even harder to manage all the problems in a way which does not disturb normality, stability, and especially labour relations and peace.”