Calls to end of Vassilikos Cement strike action, Cyprus

Civil Engineers yesterday asked the employees of Vassilikos Cement to resume work and resolve their differences to put an end to cement shortages which are severely impacting the domestic construction sector, the Cyprus mail reports.

Employees at the cement factory went on indefinite strike over their collective agreements on 1 March. A few days later concrete makers said they were halting work because they had no cement left.

“Construction sites are idle and works are postponed creating a chain reaction of negative consequences financially and time-wise on the construction and building sectors,” the Cyprus civil engineers’ association said yesterday in an announcement.

The Association said the industry, “already at the brink of destruction,” was being crippled and called all those involved “to display a cooperative spirit to immediately resolve their differences, using as a yardstick the interests of the economy and the island’s in general, as befits a contemporary society”.

“The Cyprus civil engineers’ association expects the government to take all measures necessary so that the supply of concrete and cement starts again smoothly,” the announcement said.