The workers at the ready-mixed concrete factories continue their indefinite strike on Wednesday, expecting a new mediation effort from the Minister of Labor and Social Insurance Yiannis Panagiotou, after the rejection by the employer side of the negotiation framework submitted by the Minister of Labor.
The Pancypriot Association of Ready-Mixed Concrete Manufacturers rejected the negotiation framework and did not appear at yesterday's meeting convened by the Minister of Labor with the participation of both sides, unions and employers.
In statements to KYPE, the General Secretary of the OOIMSEK-SEK Construction Federation Stelios Tsiaputis said that the trade unions responded positively to participate in yesterday's meeting "despite the fact that we did not agree on all the content of the framework".
Mr. Tsiaputis said that the negotiation framework was rejected by the Association of Ready-Mixed Concrete Manufacturers and "all the effort we made in the previous days to find a solution was wasted."
"Today we are continuing our strike normally, without any problems, and as the General Secretary of the workers' unions we are out with the striking workers," he said and added that "the strike will continue until the workers' struggle is vindicated, which is completely justified." .
Mr. Tsiapoutis said that "since the Concrete Association decided to reject a general framework to enter into a discussion in order to enter into an in-depth discussion, it means that it does not want a dialogue".
He stated that the Minister of Labor has not blamed the Association for responding negatively to his proposal to discuss the negotiation framework and added that "we went to discuss and find a solution if the conditions were such that they allowed us to do so".
"So we have no other choice, since the Association said no, to continue our struggle until any agreement is reached, which will go to the general meetings of the workers for information," he added.
The General Secretary of the OOIMSEK-SEK union said that "it is now up to the Minister of Labor or the State to take any other actions that will create the conditions for starting a dialogue to find a solution".
Besides, the General Secretary of the Union of Builders, Mechanics of PEO Michalis Papanikolaou said that the unions accepted the framework set by the Minister of Labor, the employer side had rejected it, while nothing was added yesterday.
"Someone must finally tell the truth and tell the responsibility that the employer side has and not put it on the workers", he said and added that "the employer side violates agreements, hence this issue exists".
Mr. Papanikolaou said that "the employer side does not want to comply with the collective agreement that refers to the part of overtime".
"We universally continue the fight, all guilds are united, the fight is fair and we will go to the final vindication", he said.
Mr Papanikolaou also said there was a cost to the strike and "the biggest cost is to the weakest who are the workers, but we cannot allow the self-evident to be challenged" and questioned whether "we are going into the Middle Ages".
"The pressure should be exerted on those who have the responsibility", he said and added that the guilds submitted concrete evidence for this.
Mr Papanikolaou said the Federation of Contractors should put pressure on their colleagues in the Ready-Mixed Concrete Association "who belong to the same federation to stick to what was agreed and end the matter".
Source: KYPE
