Cyprus-Forum.com

[Pyrpolizer]

I have to say that i struggle when I hear of the inequalities between public and private sector employees in Cyprus. Particularly when it comes to public holidays. I am not sure why such discrimination as to allow some people to have a holiday on a specific day and not afford the luxury to all.

No humanist the holidays are the same for everyone. It is the other benefits the public servants get that ate scandalous.
a)Almost double salaries than normal
b)1/4 contribution to social insurance (rest 3/4 paid by tax payers for THEM)
c)Huge Bonus on retirement.
d)2 or more pensions if they served as ministers MPS etc
And they also take advantage of the fact that nobody can tell them anything to crunch all the maximum period allowed for leave of absence for medical reasons.
Ask Bananiot to tell you what female school teachers do to crunch all of it e.g.

[Paphitis]

I do apologise but I got my figures wrong. Let me try again.

The public debt of Greece is 340 billion and ours about 19 billion. In order to cover the deficit we borrow more than 2 billion every year and this is added to the lump sum we borrowed the previous year and so forth. The situation is very grim and serious people in Cyprus, like Orphanides, are very worried about this. Even the Minister of Finance has called the present pension situation a "time bomb". The pensions cost half a billion per year without the pensioners contributing one cent towards the pension fund. This is madness.

The government has asked for more taxes from the people and the banks. Rumour has it that the government is going to propose we pay more towards the so called "defense cut" which of course will sound like sweet music to the ears of the nationalists but the extra money that will go into the government coffers will not be wasted away on the NG but it will be silently used to cover the holes of the doomed pension scheme and perhaps hoping the government can last out until the next government takes over, which then can shoulder the blame. The fact is, successive governments over the last 30 or so years have really f*cked up the economy.

I really have no idea where the Cy Mail gets its figures from.

Greece, has a debt of some 450 Billion.

If Cyprus owes 19 Billion now, then there is not much to worry about. Bear in mind that Cyprus has a higher GDP, and such a debt in my view is serviceable.

But, I agree with the opinion above. The RoC Government needs to stand up against the union and accept the political cost. Christofias stated that he will not be standing at the next election. Therefore, he has NOTHING to lose. He should take on the public sector unions.

However, let's be clear that AKEL have substantial support from these unions, and taking them on will be like taking on their own.

I wouldn't stress to much. These figures seem very manageable to me. We are talking about some very low exposures for a high GDP country.

[Bananiot]

Christofias will not run for presidency again? You are far away from Cyprus paphitis, very far!

You should read some of Orphanides's criticism of the Cyprus economy. It will make your hair stand on end. Orphanides is the Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus who knows a thing or two about economics.

[Sotos]

The fact is, successive governments over the last 30 or so years have really f*cked up the economy.

In the 80s and 90s the economy was booming and with Papadopoulos we had a surplus!

[Get Real!]

You should read some of Orphanides's criticism of the Cyprus economy. It will make your hair stand on end. Orphanides is the Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus who knows a thing or two about economics.

The next time you see him ask why his shopping center has turned into a ghost town!

He’s only got about 20-30% of his tenants left!

[supporttheunderdog]

Cyprus could have been very wealthy indeed but the unions killed the economy - Limassol for example could have ben a major transhipment port and regional hub, but the Unions put the mockers with excessivley high wage bills and outmoded inneficient working practices: several factories supplied clothing to M&S: when the owners of one wanted to introduce an extra shift (which would have increased the number of jobs) to meet the demand the unions refused - M&S took their buisness elswehere so now their are no jobs.

[Paphitis]

Christofias will not run for presidency again? You are far away from Cyprus paphitis, very far!

You should read some of Orphanides's criticism of the Cyprus economy. It will make your hair stand on end. Orphanides is the Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus who knows a thing or two about economics.

Christofias promised that he will not run for President if he does not solve the Cyprus problem within his 5 year term.

He promised, but is a politician. If he doesn't keep his word, then that is another matter.

Not that it matters much anyway, because at the next Presidential Elections, the electorate is going to give him and AKEL their biggest hiding.

I think people are fed up with him really.

Now about Orphanides. This doesn't surprise me bananiot.

we have the same warnings from Australia's Federal Reserve. The guys are bloody bank merchants, and ultra conservative at that.

Every month now, they have been telling us that we will hit rock bottom, and that disaster awaits us, only to see Australia ride the back of massive mining giants and unprecedented demand.

One day they might get it right, when commodity prices collapse in the wake of the financial crisis. We haven't seen this collapse yet.

[Paphitis]

I have to say that i struggle when I hear of the inequalities between public and private sector employees in Cyprus. Particularly when it comes to public holidays. I am not sure why such discrimination as to allow some people to have a holiday on a specific day and not afford the luxury to all.

No humanist the holidays are the same for everyone. It is the other benefits the public servants get that ate scandalous.
a)Almost double salaries than normalb)1/4 contribution to social insurance (rest 3/4 paid by tax payers for THEM)
c)Huge Bonus on retirement.
d)2 or more pensions if they served as ministers MPS etc
And they also take advantage of the fact that nobody can tell them anything to crunch all the maximum period allowed for leave of absence for medical reasons.
Ask Bananiot to tell you what female school teachers do to crunch all of it e.g.

Hello Pyro,

Has the thought crossed your mind that perhaps private sector workers are highly underpaid?

You did mention 800-1000 Euros!!!!! 250 Euros a week!!! You would think about getting out of bed if you were paid this for a days work....

There should be laws against this. Perhaps a minimum wage needs to be enforced. How can someone live on such a wage? Not even worth getting out of bed....

Perhaps the private Sector needs to be forced to catch up to the Public sector if you ask me.

[quattro]

I have to say that i struggle when I hear of the inequalities between public and private sector employees in Cyprus. Particularly when it comes to public holidays. I am not sure why such discrimination as to allow some people to have a holiday on a specific day and not afford the luxury to all.

No humanist the holidays are the same for everyone. It is the other benefits the public servants get that ate scandalous.
a)Almost double salaries than normalb)1/4 contribution to social insurance (rest 3/4 paid by tax payers for THEM)
c)Huge Bonus on retirement.
d)2 or more pensions if they served as ministers MPS etc
And they also take advantage of the fact that nobody can tell them anything to crunch all the maximum period allowed for leave of absence for medical reasons.
Ask Bananiot to tell you what female school teachers do to crunch all of it e.g.

Hello Pyro,

Has the thought crossed your mind that perhaps private sector workers are highly underpaid?

You did mention 800-1000 Euros!!!!! 250 Euros a week!!! You would think about getting out of bed if you were paid this for a days work....

There should be laws against this. Perhaps a minimum wage needs to be enforced. How can someone live on such a wage? Not even worth getting out of bed....

Perhaps the private Sector needs to be forced to catch up to the Public sector if you ask me.

of course the private sector is underpaid .....My wife works for the last 20 years in a croup company for 1300 Euros per month and she in the administration sector of the company.managing six out off the 7 sister companies . and new employes are coming in knowing zilch with 1000 -1400 per month and the accountant 5000 per month ....................

[Pyrpolizer]

Yes there is a minimum salary and that's about 850 Euros per month (If you are paid on a monthly basis). You will be surprised how many people in the private sector get just a little above the minimum salary say about 900 Euros.
The new fashion in the private sector however is not to pay on a monthly basis but pay with the HOUR. Say 4-4.25 Euros per hour. Hence a poor person getting paid by the hour (6 days a week by 8 hours a day=48 hours!!!) just manages to get the MINIMUM salary.
One of my sons friend was getting 1400 Euros per month. Now with this crisis they told him either you leave or you stay working half hours and HALF salary. What option did he have?. Today he works as "part timer" for 700 Euros per month which is not enough even for his personal expenses.

The argument that it is not that the public servants get huge salaries but the private sector underpaying it's employees was ALWAYS the main defense of the public servants. In other words they say "why do you want our salaries to go down, push your bosses in the private sector to give you higher salaries, organize yourselves go on strike etc."

The truth behind this is that it is the private sector that makes an economy. In the private sector everyone is free to leave his job and take another with better salary. The problem is there are not enough jobs around to make this competition turn in favor of the employee. Furthermore the private sector consists of mostly "family business" in other words 3-4 family members run the business and hold the "highly paid jobs" and they may employ another say 10 people for the lower paid jobs. And there is a plethora of unemployed people around willing to take the lower paid jobs.

So how could anyone push the private sector to give higher salaries when there is not enough work to start with?

In conclusion since the salaries in the private sector in this free economy cannot go up, and since they are proven to be at levels half than those of the public sector employees ever since the 80s, and since it is the private sector that works to pay the public servants, THEN the salaries of the public servants should go down to match those in the private sector.

Or else the state will soon go bankrupt.