EMPLOYEES at the Vasilikon cement factory in Limassol have promised to continue strike action indefinitely until the owners implement the terms of their collective wage agreement.
During a meeting of employees, union representatives appealed to the workers to accept the mediating proposal put forward by the Labour Ministry.
The strike action follows a 24 hour warning strike on 7th February. Employees say that the company is continuing to act unilaterally and is violating their collective agreement.
The employers and industrialists’ federation (OEV) expressed their disappointment on the workers’ decision and called on unions to consider the consequences of their actions on the cement factory as well as the Cyprus construction industry, which is facing a major crisis.
Cement sales in January 2012 fell by 33.4 percent compared with January 2011, while during the whole of 2011 cement sales fell by 40.6 percent compared with 2010.
The company has said that despite repeated calls to the unions for over a year to negotiate an agreement they had shunned all approaches.
(Although workers wages have been frozen at 2011 levels, their Cost of Living Allowance (CoLA) for 2012 has been handed out normally. In 2011, their wages were increased by 3.4 percent.)