NICOSIA - Petrol company employees are threatening to strike as part of a wave of industrial unrest sweeping the island.
They are planning to walk out on Wednesday, claiming that the companies are refusing to accept an arbitration proposal over the collective agreement and the payment of the cost of living allowance.
The General Secretary of the Sek petroleum sector said 300 people, including supply staff at airports, would be involved and that the strike would prevent s
upplies reaching petrol stations “and will cause serious problems.”
No decision had been taken last night on the type of action or how long it would last.
The president of the Petrol Station Owners’ Association, Bambinos Charalambous, said that if the strike was of a short, warning nature, then petrol stations hade several days worth of reserves.
It is one of a number of strikes in prospect next week as employers move to freeze pay and the Cost of Living Allowance ahead of negotiations on collective agreements.
In Nicosia, 800 employees of Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Kean and Lanitis Bros also announced they would be walking out on February 2.
The company’s decision to freeze the cost of living allowance at the end of the month is seen as a “one-sided” by unionists and employees who left the possibility of escalating their action open.
Expressing regret over the unions’ “pointless” decision, Lanitis Bros said they were committed to paying Cola retrospectively from January, provided that this was a provision of the renewed collective agreement.
Nicosia, Limassol and Larnaca district construction workers announced a 24-hour warning strike in early February after their employers - members of Oeb - refused to pay Cola in 2012.
The general secretary of Sek’s builders’ and miners’ federation Yiannakis Ioannou was yesterday attending meetings in Famagusta and Larnaca and today he will be in Paphos as decisions are taken on strike warnings by building workers in all cities.
“Letters containing 10-day warnings of strike action will be sent on Monday and, if our demands are not met, 24-hour strikes will be staged by building workers around Cyprus on February 10,” he told The Cyprus Weekly.
After last week’s one-hour warning strike, port workers also announced plans for a 24-hour walk-out next Wednesday, paralysing Limassol and Larnaca ports.
They are also calling for a pay rise and a Cola increase which is included in their collective agreements of February 2011.
Stavros Stavrou, President of the Limassol Licensed Port Porters Association yesterday told The Cyprus Weekly that with an “indisputable” traffic reduction in ports not only could Cola and pay rises not be paid but that letters for 21 redundancies had been sent out on Wednesday.