Social workers went on a 24-hour strike on Monday, objecting to the deputy welfare ministry’s decision to “arbitrarily” assign them duties belonging to the department for the social integration of people with disabilities, a position refuted by the latter.

Deputy Welfare Minister Marilena Evangelou has called on social workers to return to their posts immediately.

However, Pasydy representative Constantinos Kambourakos said they would “not budge an inch. There is no chance of that happening”.

He clarified that the protest was not against people with disabilities or their support programmes, but against the erroneous and rushed transfer of responsibilities without a prior dialogue.

Dozens of strikers, demanding the immediate retraction of the decision, gathered at 10am outside the deputy welfare ministry to protest the decision.

Representatives of the workers said the decision to transfer the duties had been taken “unilaterally” and had been accompanied by the threat of disciplinary measures.

Kambourakos said the deputy ministry’s permanent secretary had used “all means of intimidation against the workers, even disobeying the instructions of the deputy minister herself”.

The employees had requested assurances in writing that they would not be subjected to disciplinary measures, however they never received them, Kambourakos added.

Isotita representative Andri Mattheou said that despite the deputy minister’s promises that the programme would be put on hold, the workers were told in writing about the final instructions on Friday after work in a “threatening and intimidating tone”.

“Today’s [Monday] strike is neither sudden nor unfounded. We have repeatedly warned that the workload at the social services has got out of hand. They have burdened us with irrelevant duties and we cannot fulfill our main role, which is to protect children, families, victims of violence, vulnerable social groups,” she said.

Mattheou warned that undermining the role of the social workers placed the vulnerable groups at risk.

She added that no official had contacted the strikers and that in statements the deputy minister had said nothing was going to change.

“So, what kind of dialogue will we have. They are just waiting for us to keel over,” Mattheou pointed out.

The trade unions said if there was no response, they would initiate stronger measures.

The deputy minister said on Monday that she believed the strike to be unnecessary, adding that transferring the duties was her own political decision.

She added that the care for these people – that number only a handful – was outsourced to the private sector and that the social workers merely supervised the programmes.

Meanwhile, the branch of Pasydy representing the social integration workers said the trade unionists supporting the strikers had made “wrong and misleading” remarks.

It said the duties had not been transferred to social workers, explaining that this was not stipulated in the cabinet decision or establishment act of the department for the social integration of disabled people.

The cases in question, it added, were those that were already their responsibility, namely six individuals residing in social welfare establishments.

Three of these individuals are in homes under the supervision of social workers, one is in a personal programme again supervised by social workers, one supported by the social workers through care services and an elderly individual.

“These are in no circumstance duties of our department, but have been the duties of the social welfare services, which they obviously don’t want anymore. We categorically dismiss their position, which exposes us as a service,” Pasydy said.

It explained that island-wide the department is staffed by eight social integration employees and three other officials, as well as 13 contract workers.

“Despite being seriously understaffed, we will contribute to the planning and allocation of the programmes through a public tender, however we are unable to undertake the supervision of their implementation,” the branch said.

It also expressed support to the deputy welfare ministry’s administration and regret over the refusal of their colleagues to see to vulnerable individuals and their families.