BULLETIN PEO NOVEMBER 2017

B LLETIN

PEO

NOVEMBER 2017

CONTENTS

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Trade Unions members of WFTU in Cyprus marked International Day of Action of Trade Unions for Peace -1st of September Page : 3 3rd October – WFTU International Day of Action Page : 4 Social Alliance for implementation of GHS shall continue observing and being awaken Page : 5 Interim Agreement on Automatic Cost of Living Allowance for a period of three years Page : 6 Another successful PEO Children’s camp Page : 7 PEO in the WFTU solidarity meeting with Cuba in Brussels Page : 8 Health and safety are the employees’ rights and obligation for the employers

Organized and determined We continue the struggle For reunification For social protection For work with rights

PEO bulletin TRADE UNIONS MEMBERS OF WFTU IN CYPRUS MARKED INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION OF TRADE UNIONS FOR PEACE -1st OF SEPTEMBER

Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot trade unions PEO, DEV-IS, KTAMS, KTOS, KTOEOS, BES, KOOP -SEN, DAU-SEN all members of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) commemorated 1st of September the International Day of Action of Trade Unions 1st of September was established by the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) as the International Day of Action for peace, in memory of the millions of victims of Nazism and fascism.

The organizations called a press conference and published a joint declaration in which they condemned the policy of imperialist interventions and wars and expressed their class solidarity with all the peoples struggling for peace, national independence, and democracy, political and social rights. Further they expressed their commitment to the effort for a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation with political equality of the two communities, with a single sovereignty, a single citizenship and a single international personality.

Afterwards they visited the Monument of Veterans (Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots) victims of the Second World War where they laid wreaths.

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PEO bulletin 3rd OCTOBER – WFTU INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION PEO and the Turkish Cypriot Trade Union Organizations, members of the World Trade Union Federation (WFTU), participated in a common event for yet another year in the International Day of Action which this year was dedicated to Solidarity with Refugees and Immigrants with the slogan “Common Struggles Against Poverty and Wars”.

More specifically, PEO, DEV-IS, KTAMS, KTOS, KTOEOS, BES, KOOPSEN and DAU-SEN organized an event in support and solidarity with refugees and immigrants in Nicosia. Both PEO General Secretary Pambis Kyritsis in Greek and the President of DAU-SEN Tarik Timur in Turkish addressed the meeting, as well as an applicant for political asylum. The meeting ended with a cultural program.

In their common greeting, the General Secretary of PEO Pampis Kyritsis and the President of DAU-SEN Tarik Timur addressed all migrants and refugees in our country and assured them that the class-based Trade Union Movement will continue the struggle for their right to a dignified life and work.

“Wars and disasters, poverty and destitution are the root causes that are forcing millions of people to be uprooted from their countries, either as refugees or as immigrants to protect their lives and seek a better life for them and their children. Many of them, in their effort to escape ongoing wars, poverty and misery, drown in shipwrecks of slave traders in the Mediterranean Sea that is turning into a huge cemetery”. “ Expressing our solidarity with refugees and immigrants, they both demanded policies based on the values of solidarity, respect for dignity and human rights. They also demanded, on behalf of all the participants, from the EU that it takes decisive action to combat the root causes of the mass uprooting of people and immigration, namely to combat mass poverty and social inequality that is growing as a result of the exploitation and subordination to the interests of multinational companies. This will be achieved by curbing the unbridled actions of the multinationals and by supporting developing countries.

As they both pointed out, the wars and disasters, poverty and misery that lead to refugees or economic migration are neither natural phenomena, nor the result of divine laws, but the result of imperialism’s actions, the expansionist policy pursued by imperialist states seeking conditions to ensure increasing accumulation of capital from global multinational economic giants.

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PEO bulletin SOCIAL ALLIANCE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF GHS SHALL CONTINUE OBSERVING AND BEING AWAKEN

All the organizations of the Social Alliance for the implementation of GHS unanimously decided to continue at the meeting held on 4 October.

It is worth reminding that the Social Alliance for the Implementation of GHS was established in October 2016 and it includes the Organizations: PEO, POSPF, SEK, DEOK, OELMEK, POED, OLTEK, EKYSY, Consumers’ Association, Pancyprian Union of Consumers and Life Quality and Cyprus Paraplegic Organization. The goals of the alliance when established was to ensure the modernization and the autonomy of the State hospitals and the assurance of the rights of the patients and the employees, the implementation of the single-insurance GHS as this has been agreed by the State and the assurance of the quality of the health services. By evaluating its work, the Social Alliance estimates that its intervention for the voting of the bills of GHS and the Autonomy of the State Hospitals was decisive and that the Alliance has been established in the consciousness of the public as the expresser and the voice of patients.

The Social Alliance for the implementation of GHS set its new goals that are the observation and assurance of the implementation of GHS and the Autonomy of the State Hospitals, as this is specified in the legislations that have been voted by the Parliament, as well as the strengthening of the state hospitals, until the implementation of the autonomy. Simultaneously, the need to strictly keep the agreed time schedules was stressed. The Alliance is scheduling a series of contacts with the candidate presidents of the Republic of Cyprus in order to promote the health issues as well as with the Health Minister with whom they shall discuss the issues for the implementation of GHS, the autonomy of the state hospitals and the improvement of the access of patients to the state hospitals.

Social Alliance shall be awaken, shall observe and intervene where and when needed, in order for the reform for health to proceed without any impediments for the benefit of the Cyprus citizen.

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PEO bulletin INTERIM AGREEMENT ON AUTOMATIC COST OF LIVING ALLOWANCE FOR A PERIOD OF THREE YEARS

The General Council of PEO addressed a militant call for working people to rally their forces and to be ready for waging struggles. The General Council, which convened on Monday July 24th, approved the Minister of Labour’s proposal for an Interim Agreement for the Automatic Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) for a period of three years.

The PEO General Council recalls that in recent years, and especially with the deepening of the financial crisis, the COLA has once again been targeted by the employers’ organizations, which have been persistently seeking to abolish it.

The provision of the proposal for giving 50% of the COLA is a temporary arrangement for a transitional period of three years and during this period the dialogue on the way of returning the COLA will continue on the basis of the philosophy of the institution with the aim of reaching a definitive agreement to be effective as of 1/1/2021.

The General Council notes that with the acceptance of the Interim Agreement the re-launch of the COLA is achieved, thus repelling the employers’ demand for wage cuts due to the negative inflation that existed in previous years and the efforts to abolish the COLA are being rebuffed. As the General Council points out in its statement, the struggle for the COLA does not end here. “We must be ready to continue the struggle to fully restore the institution so that it can cover even more working people.”

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PEO bulletin ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL PEO CHILDREN’S CAMP

The PEO Children’s Camp organized annually by the PEO Young Workers Office, which took place at the PEO’s Recreation Camp in Pervolia, ended very successfully.

Historically the first Working Youth Youth Camp was held in 1958 in Kerynia, now under occupation.

After the coup d’état and the Turkish invasion it was moved to the Limassol District for a few years and today is hosted at the PEO Recreation Camp in Pervolia, Larnaca district.

This year’s PEO camp, which ran from 28th June to 18th July in three periods, saw the participation of 550 children from working, unemployed and migrant families and primary and secondary school students, with more than 100 PEO volunteers.

The children who participated in recreation and entertainment activities also had the opportunity to be informed of social issues and learn about PEO’s struggles.

All the children returned from the camp enthusiastic with the camp’s activities and general program.

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PEO bulletin PEO IN THE WFTU SOLIDARITY MEETING WITH CUBA IN BRUSSELS

The World Trade Union Federation organized a meeting in Brussels on 7-8th June 2017 against the blockade imposed on Cuba with the slogan “Cuba is not alone”.

The event was attended by representatives of WFTU-affiliated Trade Union Organizations, including PEO too.

PEO was represented by Marina Nikolaou, who in her speech conveyed the Cypriot people’s solidarity towards the heroic people of Cuba. As she pointed out, despite the blockade and imperialist provocations, the Cuban people are resolutely pursuing their struggle, building society on the principles of justice, peace and socialism. “Today Cuba continues to be ab example and inspire with its heroism and refusal to subdue to neoliberalism and the imperialist world order,” she said. M. Koukou noted that Cuba is also an example in another field of international solidarity where many times it supported other struggling peoples: “Cuba and its people, in difficult times for Cyprus, supported the Cypriot people’s struggle. Cypriot workers express their solidarity with Cuba for its invaluable support towards the struggle for the reunification of Cyprus. “ Concluding her speech, M. Nikolaou assured that the working people of Cyprus will continue to be in solidary with the struggles of the Cuban people and the CTC to put end to the inhuman blockade by the United States: “We are demanding from the US government to put an immediate end to its economic and trade isolation policy. We condemn the attempts to interfere on various pretenses in Cuba’s internal affairs that aim at the ideas of the socialist revolution,” she said.

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PEO bulletin HEALTH AND SAFETY ARE THE EMPLOYEES’ RIGHTS AND OBLIGATION FOR THE EMPLOYERS PEO expresses its strong concern for the great increase of the labour accidents in our country, which as shown by the official data since 2014 it tends to be continuous.

According to the most recent data, in the first semester of 2017 a total of 1053 accidents were reported at the Labour Inspection Department, increased by 21.7% in relation to the first semester of 2016 when 865 accidents were reported. This increase does not even surpass the increase of 19.4% presented for 2016 in relation to 2015.

“The deregulation of labour which unfortunately is increasing in the last years in our country, is proved as defining factor for the increase of labour accidents.

It is clear that the health and safety measures at work are downgraded due to the cuts made by the employers within the frameworks of the reduction of the labour cost and the intensification of work that chasing for profit imposes since it is for profit that health and safety measures are sacrificed”, as denounced by PEO. As stressed by PEO, health and safety are the right of employees and obligation of employers.

“We demand from the employers to undertake their responsibilities against employees and to take all the necessary measures to reduce the labour accidents and the employees to return to their houses being healthy and safe. The total planning for prevention of labour accidents and the systematic controls are required to be the top priority of the state. The defined campaigns and the public guidelines for the employers cannot control the phenomenon of downgrading the health and safety issues by a great part of employers”, as stressed by PEO. The data showing the high and continuous increase of the labour accidents, hit the bell.

PEO stresses that a complete planning must be done to face the phenomenon of increasing the labour accidents and a total evaluation of all the mechanisms occupying with health and safety of employees issues is also imposed. All employers must be obliged to provide training and knowledge to newly employed workers on health and safety issues.

The Minister of Labour also needs to intensify its action in the sector of Health and Safety and to be decisive against those employers violating the legislation.

Pancyprian Federation Of Labour Archermou 29 1045 Nicosia Cyprus P.O. Box 21885 tel : 22866400 fax : 22866512 e - mail : info@peo.org.cy

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