Turkish Cypriot unions announced further general strike in TRNC

The Turkish Cypriot confederation of trade unions in Northern Cyprus on Saturday announced that it will be staging a general strike on Friday next week as well as another one limited to Nicosia on Wednesday following the expiration of Friday’s ultimatum it issued to the ‘government’ of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus TRNC to introduce the winter time and its call for the resignation of three ‘ministers’.

The unions and students, last week staged several protest in response to the deaths of three people – 
including two pupils and a bus driver– killed when a school bus crashed into a lorry on Tuesday November 29 which was in part blamed on dark weather, and the poor state of roads, and called for the time to be turned back by an hour.

In a statement, the union said that Wednesday’s strike will also feature a march to the spot of the accident in memory of the three victims.

The unions accused the ‘government’ of taking no measures to address the public’s rage and hold those responsible for the tragic accident accountable.

The union urged all professional bodies, including various Turkish Cypriot chambers of commerce, retailers, and contractors, as well as opposition parties and the public at large, to “start the required processes and actions for the transition to winter time, holding those responsible accountable, and coming up with a comprehensive solution to the issue of traffic.

“The government, which places no value on people, is resisting the introduction of winter time, is prosecuting none of those responsible, and continues to take primitive measures, dragging the country to chaos and ignoring private-sector employees,” the statement said.

The union said, during Friday’s general strike, union members will issue opposition parties at ‘parliament’ with a proposal for a motion of no-confidence against the ‘government’, which “turned its back on the people and is not listening to the public’s cry.”

According to report by Cyprus Mail, the proposal will also call for a probe against the three ‘ministers’ – education, transportation and public works, and labour and social security – regarding the facts that the driver who caused the accident did not have a work permit, school-bus drivers have not yet signed collective agreements with the ‘education ministry’, as well as the poor state of the road network.

Cyprus Mail