Workers and civil servants stage strike in north Cyprus

Civil servants in north Cyprus went on strike on Thursday over the government's freeze on the cost-of-living increment for four months.

Hundreds of civil servants marched to ‘parliament’ to protest over the policies, which they said, negatively impact workers.

Protesters called for a reversal of the decision to freeze the cost-of-living increment. They also called on the ‘government’ to resign while also criticising it for forcing people to take to the streets during a pandemic.

The general strike organised by six unions includes civil servants’ KTAMS, KAMUSEN, KAMU-İŞ, customs employees’ union (GÜÇ-SEN), ‘revenue and tax office’ employees’ union (VERGİ-SEN) and the nurses and midwives’ union. ‘State doctor’s’ union TIP-İŞ announced on Thursday its members were joining as well.

The strike led to the cancellation of the ‘parliament’s general assembly’ session because most of the supporting staff participated in the strike and work at Ercan airport.