Cyprus Mail 21 February 2020 - article by Gina Agapiou
Paphos rubbish collectors on Thursday announced a one-day strike for next month to protest against the privatisation of the town’s waste management system.
The strike will start a minute after midnight on Tuesday, March 3 and will last for 24 hours.
Workers said the strike was a warning and called the municipal council to amend their decision to proceed with the assignment of the town’s waste management services to a private company.
Trade unions representing the workers said they supported the decision to protest and that they had warned the municipality they would take drastic measures over their decision to assign the services to a private company.
They also requested the council to consult with the trade unions to provide better quality services to maintain the waste management within the municipality.
Depending on the reaction, waste collectors will proceed to further measures.
Residents of the area were asked to show understanding as the privatisation would have a bigger negative impact, they said.
The decision to assign the waste disposal services to a private company was taken on November, with ten out of 19 votes in favour, despite trade unions warnings residents would pay more and the municipality would have no income.
