Mass and powerful message sent by working people on Saturday.
The mass organised, militant and class struggle will continue to safeguard labour rights and gains
This was the message sent on Saturday morning by working people and youth, but also pensioners who stand by today’s fighters for working people’s rights was mass and powerful.
Participating in the demonstration from the Finance Ministry to the Presidential Palace were workers from the construction to the hotel industry, workers working employed under difficult conditions, paid less, with flexible forms of work. Young people who have graduated who either can’t find work or are paid far below what the government has set as the minimum wage. Pensioners who for years have been at the forefront of the struggles for labour rights and gains and who today see the setbacks that the DISY-Anastasiades government has led to.
“We demand labour rights”, “Legislative safeguarding of collective agreements”, “Full restoration of the Cost of Living Allowance to cover all workers!”, “Measures to combat price hikes now!”, “We demand dignified work”, are just some of the slogans heard during Saturday’s march organised by the class-based trade union federation of PEO. The mobilization began with a rally outside the Ministry of Finance, followed by a march to the Presidential Palace, where a petition was delivered.
Workers from construction sites, hospitals, industries, semi-public organizations, buses, social protection structures, young workers who are now entering the labour market, pensioners, men and women, Cypriots and immigrants together with our mass militant presence are sending a powerful message, said the General Secretary of the PEO Sotiroula Charalambous. The message that enough is enough, that this situation cannot continue any longer.
At a time when price hikes are crushing people, workers demand dignified wages with rights so that they can stand on their feet and make ends meet for their families.
Working people are demanding legislative measures to make the basic terms of Collective Labour Agreements compulsory for all workers, so that they do not have to fear that at any moment they may find themselves on the street looking for work.