For AKEL, the fight for equality is not just a debt, the isolation of sexism, the need for women to come to the fore, but it is part of the philosophy and ideology it stands for, said on Saturday the party's secretary general, Andros Kyprianou.
Welcoming the procession of women outside the Presidential Palace, on the occasion of International Women's Day, Mr. Kyprianou said that “we are always in solidarity with the struggles of the women's movement, for the liberation of women, equality, respect, dignity. ”
He pointed out that in Cyprus a woman has to work 40 days more a year than a man to earn the same salary as him, incidents of domestic violence have erupted in recent years and murders of women shock the Cypriot society from time to time.
He added that “the infrastructure for the care of children and the elderly, which was closed by the Anastasiadis-DISY Government, is necessary more than ever, since the working hours remain unregulated”. The Secretary General of AKEL stated that the liberation of women will not come out of nowhere, nor will it give women a system based on their exploitation.
He stressed the need for measures and policies that allow women to unleash their power outside the home, policies to curb female unemployment, decent jobs, measures to combat inequality, combating employer arbitrariness against pregnant workers, support for the rights of pregnant women. working mothers and strengthening their protection and introducing a plan for paid parental leave.
Also abolition of the 12% cut for those who retire at 63, measures and infrastructures that support motherhood as a social responsibility, measures to prevent and deal with all forms of violence and full guarantee of women's sexual and reproductive rights. “These are just some of our positions on women. Positions that we are working on for their implementation inside and outside the Parliament “, he noted.
For his part, the Secretary General of PEO, Pampis Kyritsis, said in his speech that the decision of the General Council of PEO for its policy on the renewal of Collective Agreements includes that in the process of renewal of any collective agreement, we should claim the incorporation of a code for sexual harassment and abuse of power at work.
He pointed out that “in recent years, we have been experiencing a severe attack on workers' labor and social rights at all levels. Especially after the crisis of 13, after the haircut, the memorandum and the neoliberal policies imposed on us by the government and the ruling party, the attack is escalating, mainly with fear and job insecurity, deregulation and degradation of collective agreements. “The 'flexible' forms of employment are supposed to end up working overtime, seven days a week,” he said.
He added that “working women are the first to feel the effects of this attack. “Because in the conditions of the crisis they experience the discrimination against them even more intensely, because the dismantling of the welfare state and together with the family support infrastructures further reduces and shrinks any opportunities in their work and social development” .
Mr. Kyritsis said that a class trade union movement honors the working woman. “She stands militantly next to her with respect and solidarity for her struggles and special demands. “Not with words, declarations and wishes, but by adopting and incorporating in his struggles and demands, the special and special women's demands, supporting equality and equality in all aspects of working, social and political life”, she said.
That is why, he added, we have made the paid parental leave, the extension of maternity leave, the legalization of contracts and the minimum wages one of the priorities of our social demands. The requirement for a subsidy from the state of childcare costs.
