Concrete makers’ association head tells workers to get back to work

The concrete makers’ association on Tuesday ordered striking workers to get back to work.

In a statement released after the association held an extraordinary general meeting, he said workers must “resume serving the construction industry … to contribute to mitigating the problems arising from the strike.”

It added that workers and their trade unions should “assume their responsibilities” and “terminate their strike measures to normalise the problems and enter a dialogue”.

“We declare our readiness to participate in good faith negotiations alongside the labour ministry, within a new framework,” it said.

It also called on all sides to “act respectfully” and in a “civilised manner”.

The statement came as association head Costas Kythreotis told public broadcaster CyBC that members of his association are receiving “repeated phone calls and threats” from union members to not work with people who are not union members.

The workers had initially gone on strike last week, demanding to be paid for overtime worked and a return to their pre-2013 collective labour agreement conditions.

Efforts to resolve the matter were expected on Tuesday, with Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou having planned to meet with workers and employers in the hope of making progress.

However, Kythreotis told the Cyprus News Agency on Tuesday that he and other employers had refused to participate in the day’s meetings, “because the framework of negotiations given to us by [Panayiotou] was not accepted by our members”.

“It did not leave any room for negotiations to be entered,” he added, repeating his claim that non-unionised workers were “trying to work” but that those on strike were creating “a lot of obstruction”.

“They threaten to beat them, to break cars, so because we do not want the situation to escalate, we took action to reduce this,” he said.

Last week, trade union Peo secretary-general Sotiroula Charalambous had said 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.”

Panayiotou had last week 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.”