Social welfare services staff hold a 24-hour strike on Monday in protest over a recent decision about the coordination of disability support programmes.

The announcement was made by the administrative council of the social services employees sector of Pasydy. The strike follows a decision to appoint social welfare services as coordinators for the contract relating to the creation of individual programmes for people with disabilities. The decision assigned the role to Social Welfare instead of the department of social inclusion for persons with disabilities. The employees’ union said this role is not part of social welfare’s responsibilities.

In a statement, the union welcomed the decision to create individual programmes for people with disabilities but opposed the coordination being given to Social Welfare. It said the decision was taken “unilaterally and unfairly” by the director-general of the deputy ministry of Social Welfare, Yiannis Nicolaides.

The union added that the deputy minister of social welfare had stated publicly that the matter of transferring responsibilities from disability inclusion department will be reconsidered on Monday. Pasydy said it had decided to give dialogue another chance before taking action.

However, the union said the director-general had ignored the deputy minister’s position, thereby escalating the dispute. The statement said that, despite repeated requests from the union for the director-general to follow the deputy minister’s stance, no alternative approach had been offered.

As a result, the union said it had taken the decision to hold a 24-hour warning strike and a protest outside the offices of the deputy ministry of social welfare. The union described the situation as a crisis affecting both the ministry and Social Welfare services.

The strike will affect all social welfare services offices across the country. Staff have called on the ministry to resolve the matter through discussion to avoid further disruption.