A two-day general strike in the north on Thursday and Friday forced the government to “suspend” the passage of two bills through ‘parliament’, one regarding the payment of the cost-of-living allowance and the other regarding the signing of collective labour agreements.

Members of a total of 33 trade unions, reportedly numbering in the thousands, marched on the ‘parliament’ building in northern Nicosia’s Koskluciftlik building on Thursday and Friday demanding that the two laws be withdrawn.

The strike had been called after ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel and ‘finance minister’ Ozdemir Berova had reportedly met with unions last week and promised them they would “consider the demands” made, before submitting the bill unamended to ‘parliament’ the following day.

Demonstrators tore ‘parliament’s’ front gate off its hinges as part of the protest on Thursday, with prominent trade union leaders making speeches.

Teachers’ trade union Ktoeos leader Selma Eylem said the protesters were there to “demonstrate our anger, our rebellion, and our strength against the fraud, robbery, bribery, nepotism, the giveaways, and the money laundering of those who are attacking our right to live like humans”.

Meanwhile, public sector workers’ union Kamu-Sen leader Metin Altan called on Ustel to resign, saying, “there is no other alternative!”

“You ate, you drank, you filled your stomachs. Now, you have reached into people’s pockets. You have finished this country off! They are saying they will take the cost-of-living allowance from us. Ustel says he cannot do anything. If that is the case, what is he doing in that chair?”

On Friday, the union leaders met with a special ‘parliamentary’ committee led by ‘speaker’ Ziya Ozturkler to discuss the two laws, with the union leaders then manning all the doors of the committee room to ensure that members of the ‘government’ would not get up and leave without an agreement being reached.

north, demonstrations, unions, labour laws

This proved to be the remedy to the problem for the time being at least, with the ‘government’ agreeing to withdraw the bill on collective labour agreements and to “look again” at the matter of the cost-of-living allowance in the new year.

Speaking outside ‘parliament’ after the agreement was reached, Cyprus Turkish Workers’ Union (Turk-Sen) chairman Arslan Bicakli made a speech to the demonstrators, warning that further measures would be taken if the ‘government’ does not keep its side of the bargain.

“If they lie and call another committee meeting without fulfilling their promises, we will come back with our work vehicles and call an indefinite strike,” he began, adding that the unions have now suspended their strike action.

“After many years, 90 per cent of the unions came together and fought an honourable fight together with our members. I congratulate you all. Everyone will know that if they become an MP or a minister in this country, they were not given a title deed. This country belongs to all of us,” he said.

He added, “we are in the driving seat of this bus, and if they lie, if they call the committee to a meeting without fulfilling their promises, we will come back with our work vehicles and we will bring them down.

“If they bring the bill over the cost-of-living allowance onto parliament’s agenda, we will go on an indefinite strike.”

Later on Friday, Ktoeos secretary-general Tahir Gokcebel suggested that the unions’ success in forcing the ‘government’ to retreat may have a knock-on effect in wider politics.

“The fire that started here in parliament will spread to the Turkish embassy. The fire that started in Nicosia will soon extend all the way to and engulf Ankara,” he said.

The law over the cost-of-living allowance would, had the ‘government’ gone ahead, have reduced the number of times the amount payable as a cost-of-living allowance would be calculated from three per year to two.

The other bill stated that any collective labour agreement signed involving public sector employees would have had to receive a “positive written opinion” from the ‘finance ministry’ before it enters force, thus effectively giving the central ‘government’ the final say over any deal reached between unions and public sector employers.