Unions dismiss proposal, urge builders to strike

Trade unions on Tuesday rejected a government framework for the collective agreement renewal in the construction industry and will urge builders to stage a 24-hour strike.

Sek, Peo and Deok said the labour minister’s framework did not solve any of the sector’s problems, in which 40 per cent of the workers are being paid less than €1,200 per month.

For this reason, they said after a meeting on Tuesday, they would propose a warning strike at a date to be decided by the builder.

“The labour minister’s proposal, presented verbally, cannot be accepted as it is,” the unions stressed.

They noted that worker’s demands had been sent two years ago to the employers’ side, with emphasis on addressing the phenomenon of “work deregulation in the construction sector, which hits the workers of the sector hard.”

“Unfortunately, our demands were not met and we are now at the point, according to a labour ministry study, where thousands of workers in the construction industry are being paid salaries that do not come close to the minimum wages agreed on in the collective agreement,” the trade unions said.

The trade unions point out that “about 40 per cent of the workers are being paid less than €1,200 per month and a large number of those less than €1,000.”

Their firm belief is that they have no choice but to propose to the workers at meetings on July 25 to stage a 24-hour warning strike.

The date of the strike will be decided by the builder’s unions.

The trade unions hope that developments in the meantime will contribute to labour peace and a strike will be avoided.