- Sport : Dalglish sacked by Liverpool
- Sport : Omonia edge out AEL to win Cyprus Cup
- Sport : Moufflons win prestigious Sevens title
- AKEL : Papadopoulos 'thorn' in side of AKEL DIKO collaboration
- AKEL : Our view: Blaming the government for banking crisis is excessive
- AKEL : Papadopoulos 'thorn' in side of AKEL DIKO collaboration
- Attorney-General : MPs immunity to stay
- 13-year-old : New safety measures decided for canal
- appointment : CyBC appointment error could cost taxpayer dear
- bank of cyprus : BoC says thinking of partners in insurance sector
Tagspublic sector
13th salaries next for the chopping block?
FINANCE Minister Vassos Shiarly neither denied nor confirmed yesterday whether cutting the public sector’s 13th salary was one of the measures the government was considering to plug a €150 million to €200 million shortfall from the 2.5 per cent fiscal deficit target in 2012.Unions oppose any moves on the 13th salary, which is given out at Christmas.“I cannot be clear; any measure would first be discussed with the social partners,” Shiarly told reporters when pressed whether the 13th salary was on the table. The minister stressed that any measures should be put in place as soon as possible because any delays could render them ineffectual... Read on
Budgets unfrozen
PARLIAMENT yesterday passed a bill allowing the government to hire temporary workers in the public sector.The hiring will however be limited to state hospitals, the Department of Statistics and the Committee on Missing Persons.Around 25 temporary staff -- including radiologists, anaesthesiologists and gastroenterologists -- in state hospitals islandwide had not had their contract renewed putting strain on hospital staff.The civil servants union PASYDY says that state hospitals need some 150 temps to tackle current understaffing problems... 2 comments
Deputies stubborn on unfreezing public posts
PARLIAMENT yesterday asked the government to furnish more information regarding a demand to unfreeze 646 permanent positions in the public service to fill gaping holes in the administration, particularly in the health sector.The positions had been frozen by the opposition-dominated parliament in December during the approval of the 2012 budget.The government wants them released so that it can hire people, mainly for the health sector, which is facing a greater need... 7 comments
Campaigns for the blind
NEW legislation allows for 10 per cent of positions in the public sector to be filled by people with disabilities, according to First Lady, Elsi Christofias.“From the date that this began being enforced 50 such positions have been filled in the public sector,” she said yesterday during a news conference to launch their ‘Walking with the Blind’ campaign and the April fair.She said the two campaigns are aimed at making the public aware of the disability as well as raising funds for therapy programmes... Read on
Greece should learn from California
THE CRISIS in Greece is very serious. In the short term there will be little or no investment, with negative growth. Why? Because insufficient cost savings make it harder to meet payment schedules, and there is no stimulus for demand, from Sunday shopping, to straightforward infrastructure developments. What has Greece been doing wrong? Taking too long to act has made loans more expensive, has weakened asset valuations and has undermined confidence and increased fear. ... 2 comments
Our View: Public employees are as fit to work until 65 as the rest of us
THE DEBATE over a bill proposing the extension of the retirement age, in the public sector, from 63 to 64, highlighted the familiar ideological differences. The bill was submitted by DIKO’s Nicolas Papadopoulos and DISY’s Averof Neophytou, whose parties have done more to put public finances in order than the government, and it was opposed by AKEL which always champions trade union interests regardless of the consequences for the economy. EDEK sat on the fence, ready to hear all arguments... 7 comments
Public service shrinks by…two people
THE SIZE of the broader public sector shrank last year by a grand total of…two people.The Department of Statistics yesterday released data on the total number of people employed in the central government and the broader civil service in 2011.The number of civil servants employed at the end of the quarters of 2011 were: 70,782; 72,322; 70,898; and 72,208.At the end of Q4 of the previous year (2010), the number of civil servants stood at 72,210 – two more than at the end of Q4 2011.The government had pledged to reduce the size of the public sector by some 1,000.The bulk of civil servants work for the central government, where 58,673 persons were employed at the end of Q4 2011... 8 comments
Overtime row crippling parts of public service
THE Finance Ministry is preparing legislation that aims to restore some calm to the public sector by changing (again) the way in which overtime pay is calculated.Under a government bill incorporated into the 2012 budget, public-sector employees are paid an overtime rate which is based on the lowest pay grade in a given service – a significant departure from past practice, when civil servants were paid a rate analogous to their actual pay grade.This came about as a result of an amendment to the bill that was pushed through by legislators who, although motivated by a desire to make cutbacks to the budget, admit they may have acted too zealously in this particular case... 7 comments
Our View: Public sector awash in ‘too many chiefs, not enough Indians’
SOME 29 senior-ranking National Guard officers, who were forced to take early retirement, returned to active service last week after the Supreme Court upheld their appeal against the initial decision. Another 26 senior officers who were forced out are also due to return to active service over the next few weeks because of a similar Supreme Court decision; most of the 55 officers are colonels, but some hold even higher rank... 11 comments
Our View: PASYDY main obstacle to improving public sector service
AFTER receiving a big number of complaints about the rude way in which telephone enquiries were dealt with by workers at government departments, the Ombudswoman’s office carried out a survey and found the situation was as bad as citizens were claiming. The survey established there was a failure to answer many of the calls departments were receiving. Public services said this was because of the heavy workload and the inadequate number of staff. The example of the central Social Insurance office in Nicosia was cited – it received 2,500 calls per day while staff on telephone duty could only answer 800... 9 comments
