SEC and PEO called on their members in the local governments to go down, on April 27, in a one-hour nationwide work stoppage, from 11:00 to 12:00 noon
Most of the municipalities are in dire financial straits, according to the SEC and PEO unions, which point out that the total debts of the municipalities have exceeded € 300 million. They warn that some municipalities are facing so many financial problems that may lead to a suspension of payments. .
Meetings
In the context of a joint press conference given yesterday by the general secretaries of OIO-SEK and SIDIKEK-PEO Andreas Ilias and Antonis Neophytou respectively, they announced their decision to invite their members to the local governments to come down, on April 27, to a meeting. from 11:00 to 12:00 noon.
They added that meetings will be sought with both the Union of Municipalities and the parties, in order not to miss another opportunity to promote the reform, as well as meetings with the Government in order to restore the cut of state sponsorship.
40% reduction
As Mr. Neophytou stated, “the drastic cut of the state sponsorship that reaches 40% and the reduction of the revenues, due to the economic crisis, led the local self-government in a dire situation. The total debts of the municipalities exceeded € 300 million. There are debts of € 144 million in the employees' pension funds.
Employees in municipalities were reduced by more than 15%. The offer of services in matters of cleanliness, environment, road maintenance, etc. was downgraded. The potential for development projects has been eliminated.
Social policy and supply through multifaceted centers and institutions have been hit hard. "With the crisis and the freezing of the positions, vacancies of crucial importance were left and huge operational problems were created", he said.
The reasons
He noted that "in this environment, the new municipalities were left literally naked" and "the result of all this was the recourse to the market for services and illegal labor credit". He also said that "the proposals for the reform of local self-government and the prolonged discussion that followed were presented as an excuse for not addressing all these problems.
As a trade union movement, we developed initiatives and did everything we could for synergies between municipalities and the borrowing of employees from one municipality to another. All this, however, should be done by those in charge in a structured way.
"It is for these reasons that we have decided to take steps to sensitize the Government and all relevant bodies to effectively address financial and other problems, but also to protect workers from risks and to safeguard labor relations," he said.
Reflection
Mr. Elias pointed out that "the problems in the local self-government are real, they concern us, they worry us and certainly processes and actions should be launched to solve them". As he said, "all stakeholders should rise to the occasion and meet the challenges they face." He noted that the first challenge is the reform of local government.
"It simply came to our notice then. The Parliament must, in cooperation with the Government, finally see the bill or bills before it in order to be promoted. "Two studies have been done, the findings are before us, logic dictates for the good of the local community that the reform proceed," he said.
There are problems
Referring to the second challenge, he said that "the Government must see the financial problems of the municipalities, which exist and have an impact on the service offered to citizens, but also on its quality, and have an impact on employees," adding that the economic bridge until the implementation of the reform should be secured by the Government ".
Synergies and clusters
The third challenge, he said, is "synergies and clusters of services." As he said, "finally the Union of Municipalities and the local authorities should take initiatives and get rid of the spasmodic energies they use until today and proceed to the inter-municipal clustered services.
The workers have been sacrificed by the memorandum itself, they have received additional cuts and restrictions of their benefits in order for the municipalities to cope, nevertheless the issues are there, without resolution.
"Citizens, as long as they are consistent with the payment of their fees, are entitled and must demand to have the necessary service offered at the right time and in the right quality," he said.
"Last appeal"
Mr. Elias pointed out that "we are not willing to give another credit of time to the Government and the Parliament to meet the obligations they have to the local communities. We expect and will make a final appeal to all stakeholders to assume their responsibilities.
"Otherwise, we warn the citizens that they will have an impact on the issues of local government, which will, unfortunately, touch their daily lives, not by actions of the employees, but by inaction and deficit actions of the coordinated State and the Union of Municipalities", he noted.
"At the extremes"
Mr. Neophytou said that "things have gone to extremes and are affecting citizens, affecting the quality of services, and affecting labor relations and employees", adding that "there are municipalities that have such problems and may be led to a stoppage of payments "so the consequences will be immediate for both the citizens and the employees and for this reason we will evaluate the reaction of the Government and the State and, accordingly, we will decide whether to take other measures".
Source: SigmaLive