What drove employees to walk out- Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare calls the strike “unjustified and hasty”
Employees of the Social Welfare Services are holding a 24-hour strike today. Staff will also stage a protest outside the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare at 10:00.
According to an announcement by the Executive Board of the PASYDY Social Services Employees’ Branch, the mobilisation is a reaction to the designation of the Services as coordinators for a contract concerning the creation of individual programmes for people with disabilities- a responsibility which, the union argues, should fall under the Department of Social Inclusion.
While PASYDY welcomed the decision to create individual programmes for people with disabilities, it expressed opposition to the coordination of the contract by the Social Welfare Services. The union said the decision had been taken “unilaterally and unfairly” by the Director-General of the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare, Yiannis Nikolaidis.
“The Deputy Minister of Social Welfare declared, including publicly through the ministry’s press officer, that the transfer of responsibilities falling under the Department of Social Inclusion would be reviewed on Monday, 29 September 2025, and we made the responsible decision to give dialogue another chance,” PASYDY said in its statement.
It added, however, that “the Director-General of the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare chose to undermine the dialogue, opting to ignore and/or disregard the decision of the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare.”
Deputy Ministry: strike “unjustified and hasty”
For its part, the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare described the strike as “unjustified and hasty”, noting that “dialogue with the PASYDY and ISOTITA unions was already underway directly with the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare, even today, Sunday 28 September 2025, and there had been an assurance that efforts would continue into next week with both the unions and other stakeholders.”
The ministry also expressed regret for the inconvenience that will be suffered by those relying on the Social Welfare Services as a result of the strike action.
Finally, it called on the unions “to lift their measures and return to dialogue in a spirit of prudence and cooperation.” It added that “the need to create six individual programmes for people with severe disabilities, by contracting services to the private sector, is not disputed by anyone” and that “supervision of the programme by one of the Deputy Ministry’s departments — the point of contention — can only be resolved through dialogue.”
Also read: French unions strike against austerity, pressuring Macron
For more videos and updates, check out our YouTube channel
