Low-wage civil servants to strike on Wednesday

Low-wage civil servants announced on Saturday their intention to strike on Wednesday, demanding increases in pay.

The move was made following a consultation with Central government workers’ union Pasydy on Friday.

The Low-Wage Civil Servants’ Initiative Group said they realised there was no meeting planned to be between Pasydy and the President’s office, and thus took the decision to force the issue with a strike.

They expressed their fury that a proposal for wage adjustments, which they said had been agreed to by the President and themselves, had now been met with a different counterproposal.

“It creates the feeling we are being mocked,” they said.

They added that the counterproposal “does not directly satisfy the needs of low earners, since essentially their salaries will not be adjusted in the current period.”

Finance Minister Makis Keravnos had said on Wednesday he would “look at ways of increasing the salaries” of low-wage civil servants.