Financial repercussions from the ongoing concrete workers’ strike are growing exponentially while the shortage of material has far-reaching and unforeseen effects, the director general of the Cyprus chamber of commerce (Oev) said on Monday.
Meanwhile the concrete workers remain set in their demands for overtime pay, saying that, were the specific article to be respected, the strike would immediately end.
The problem will be addressed at an Oev meeting on Monday afternoon, its head Michalis Antoniou told the Cyprus News Agency, adding that exact numbers had not yet been acquired from all affected branches of the construction industry.
“From the information we have received, pressure is building up exponentially every day. [Stalled works] create a chain of complications,” Antoniou said, as contractors fail to meet their deadlines for completion and delivery of projects.
The knock-on effects sometimes even surprise those in the know, he said
“In the afternoon we will have an indication of the magnitude of the problem,” he added.
Employers had Oev’s absolute support, Antoniou said, and the concrete worker union’s demands had been disproportionate and rigid.
He said the problems are piling up and the sector is faced with “an extremely painful experience.”
“We are appealing to our union partners to suspend the [strike] and sit down to see how we can find a solution, so that everyone in the industry remains satisfied,” Antoniou said.
Sek union’sStelios Tsiapoutis said overtime should have been reintroduced since 2020.
Despite the fact that their demands were “self-evident” the workers had gone to the ministry to negotiate, Tsiapoutis said.
“The employers ought to move in our direction as we are not in violation [of any terms], we are asking for something included in our collective agreement,” he said.
Overtime rate had been set to time and a half for weekdays, and double on weekends, but the measure had been temporarily from 2018 to 2020 to time and a quarter, Tsaipoutis said.
The workers argue that the interim boost in the construction industry no longer justified holding back the set overtime.
On Sunday workers in the cement industry had on the government to take a more active role in the crisis and had said they would continue their effort until vindicated.
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