Over 1,000 teachers strike demanding job security

A subset of teachers went on a 24-hour strike on Thursday demanding job security for their posts. in a move that Education Minister Athena Michaelidou described as “hasty and untimely”.

The group of 1,200 protesting teachers, who are working in the ministry’s support programmes, claim that they may face unemployment after ten years of work.

They are all contract workers who have signed collective agreements as part of the ministry’s efforts to contract their services.

Pasey-Peo general secretary, Andreas Kounnis, described the working conditions as akin to “labour of the Middle Ages” with teachers facing and fearing unemployment.

“We will exert all our power so that no colleague ends up unemployed. Whether on the negotiating table or on the streets and wherever else needed, we will be here.”

Kounnis said Thursday’s protest was only the beginning and demanded that all jobs for the teachers involved in the 12 support programmes be safeguarded.

Oekdy-Sek union members accused Michaelidou’s of stalling, claiming she is trying to delay making a decision until the end of the school year to avoid reactions.

In a subsequent statement, Michaelidou said she was working hard to permanently resolve the labour issue and the pedagogical element of it.

The minister underlined that unions were recently given a draft of the bill aimed to regulate the specific teachers employment status and feedback was expected from the unions.

Michaelidou said she also informed them that the proposal for the pedagogical restructuring of the programmes would be communicated to them shortly.

As such, Thursday’s strike was “hasty and untimely” she stressed.