Cyprus-Forum.com

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Call to end preferential treatment for public servants

By Elias Hazou
Published on November 19, 2010

AN ONLINE petition has been launched calling for an end to the preferential treatment for civil servants at the expense of the taxpayer.

Started three days ago, the petition ( http://www.gopetition.com/petition/40684.html ) has already grabbed some 1,500 signatures and rising by the minute. Its originators hope to reach the 4,000 mark, at which point they will take the petition to politicians.

Titled “For the sake of our country,” the petition starts off with some eye-grabbing examples of benefits, pensions and allowances paid to former and current civil servants.

Top of the list is Deputy Attorney-general Akis Papasavvas and his request for the state to cover expenses for tooth implants. Meanwhile, there are women with breast cancer who are not entitled to coverage for prosthetic surgery, the site says.

Next there is mention of former Interior Minister and former Central Bank governor Christodoulos Christodoulou, who receives three pensions worth a total of €147,000, per year, and of former Interior Minister Christodoulos Veniamin who gets €108,000 a year in pension benefits, while there are widows and housewives who get monthly pensions of just €510.

There is also mention of the hundreds of thousands of euros paid yearly on overtime for air traffic controllers and Port Authority employees.

“The above are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Stelios Nicholson, the petition’s author.

“What we need is a reform of the system on the basis of proportionality, so that civil servants contribute to the Social Security Fund as much as employees in the private sector. What we want is equal treatment. Why should the rest us pay taxes to fund the salaries and pensions of the civil servants?”

The idea for the petition originated with a group of concerned friends, mostly businessmen, with “no political affiliations whatsoever.”

“We are political animals, though. And talking among ourselves and with others, we realised there are a lot of angry people out there who are disgusted with these double standards.”

“In the good old boom days, everyone knew about these injustices in Cypriot society but looked the other way. Now, with the economy in crisis, we don’t have that luxury. We’ve got to fix these things. Enough is enough.”

According to Nicholson, the petition is asking for “things that are self-evident.” Their demands: a temporary freeze on the civil servants’ wages, abolition of multiple pensions, stop including allowances in the calculation of pensions, and abolition of the age pension for civil servants which is taken from the SSF, to which civil servants do not contribute.

A businessman himself, Nicholson says recent talk of pay cuts for all public servants is misleading. In actuality, it amounts to a reduction in the planned pay rises.

The government is trying to raise revenues to meet EU budget deficit criteria. A leaked Finance Ministry blueprint this week showed a 5.0 per cent tax on bank profits, a 10 per cent increase in the price of cigarettes, a 5.0 per cent increase in VAT on pharmaceuticals – which is also part of Cyprus’ obligations to the EU - and an increase in water tariffs.

Said Nicholson: “The Finance Ministry, we have learned, is thinking about a one to two per cent pay cuts for civil servants. But what about the Cost of Living Allowance (CoLA) and other wage increments which civil servants are entitled to? These alone amount to about five per cent of their salaries a year. So we say: no CoLA, no nothing. In short, the civil service payroll this year should be no greater than last year’s.”

Nicholson says that unless the current inequalities are addressed, the SSF will implode leaving the government no other option but to raise taxes.

“We can’t sustain a privileged caste anymore,” remarked Nicholson, referring to employees in the broader public sector.

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/civil-servic ... s/20101119

Sign the petition now!

[Mikiko]

The president supports them . 300 employees that left the bankrupt Eurocypria were treated like 1st Class Citisens by the hypocrite state (Even though they were the ones who distroyed the airline with their fat wages and their corupt practises). The state considers a compensation plan to satisfy them and another plan that I heard is to recruit them in the already problematic public sector. And the Hypocrite State does not care about those unemployed in the private sector ( unemployment has risen according to the statistics) These are not employees they are animals. I think we deserve an answer by this racist state . Why this preferential treatment between workers . Arent all citisens of the country ? Why some have more rights that the others? Why the president who was elected to be fair among all workers separates workers in to Class A and Class B ?

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We know why the politicians keep this going, it is to give jobs to their supporters and their supporters children, most of whom would be unemployable in the private sector.

[Mikiko]

SAY NO TO RACISM[/b]

NO MORE TOOTH IMPLANTS -BONUS- TO PUBLIC SERVANTS. THEY HAVE EATEN ENOUGH !

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Over2000 and going strong.

Sign the petition now!

http://www.gopetition.com/petition/40684.html

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Nearly 2800 now.

Add your name.

http://www.gopetition.com/petition/40684.html

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Finally a local Greek language paper picked up on this.

ΨΗΦΙΣΜΑ ΓΙΑ ΔΗΜΟΣΙΟΝΟΜΙΚΑ
Αντιδρούν οι Κύπριοι

Τρεις από τις τέσσερις χιλιάδες υπογραφές που έθεσαν ως στόχο συνέλεξε ομάδα κυπρίων πολιτών με στόχο την κατάργηση των υπέρ-προνομιών που απολαμβάνουν αξιωματούχοι και υπάλληλοι του δημοσίου.

Το εγχείρημα αυτό ανέλαβε μια ομάδα φίλων- συμμαθητών, προβληματισμένοι για το που οδηγείται η οικονομία αλλά και η κοινωνία. Φίλοι και συμμαθητές για 30 χρόνια, συζητούσαν συχνά για τα κοινά. Οι κ.κ. Στέλιος Νίκολσον, Μιχαλάκης Χατζήκυριακος, Σταύρος Αγρότης, Αντρέας Κούλλινος, Γιάννος Κάννας και Χρίστος Λανίτης, βλέποντας τους κινδύνους είπαν «δεν πάει άλλο, πρέπει να κάνουμε κάτι». Τότε ανέθεσαν στον επιχειρηματία Στέλιο Νίκολσον να υλοποιήσει την ιδέα.

Μέσω της ιστοσελίδας GoPetition International αποφάσισαν να οργανώσουν το δικό τους ψήφισμα. «Έχουμε ένα κράτος καταχρήσεων και καταχραστών και δεν μιλώ μόνο για τις παράνομες αλλά και για τις τυπικά νόμιμες απολαβές που έχουν στο δημόσιο. Πολύ περισσότερο οι συντάξεις» ανάφερε ο κ. Νίκολσον προσθέτοντας «Ποιο κράτος δίκαίου και ποια ισοτιμία δικαιολογεί αυτό το πράγμα. Αν βάλετε μέσα και την δωρεάν ιατροφαρμακευτική περίθαλψη και άλλα ωφελήματα οι αριθμοί γίνονται ακόμη πιο εξωπραγματικοί».

Μέχρι σήμερα το πρωί είχαν συγκεντρωθεί 3158 υπογραφές. Οι πολίτες που συμφωνούν με την προσπάθεια μπορούν ψηφίσουν μέσω της ιστοσελίδας http://www.gopetition.com/petition/40684.html.

25/11/2010

http://www.politis-news.com/cgibin/hweb ... V=articles