(19 December 2011) The Turkish Cypriot electricity union EL-SEN has been fighting the privatisation and unbundling of the Northern Cypriot electricity company Kib-Tec for several years now. Together with other unions it was behind one of the largest mobilizations the Northern part of the island had seen when several ten thousands of people http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVaKQoQ5iF0] gathered at the main square to protest the government plans [2 March 2011. As in many other countries the Turkish government seeks to push through a neo-liberal policy with salary freezes and cuts in both public and private sector. The entry salaries of workers are to be lowered and pensions to be taxed. The threshold for taxable income is pushed down, so workers on a low wage have to start paying taxes earlier. The union argues that the privatisation of the company will only benefit Turkish private interests. Already a mainland Turkish company has won a socalled power purchasing agreement that guarantees the company steady income. And the government want this part to go up to more than 60%. Together with not paying its bills to the electricity company the government seeks to bankrupt the public company. The government is attacking the unions. Shouting slogans against Turkish officials are forbidden and several leaders including the president of the electricity union have been jailed. The union has organized a series of remarkable actions and including cutting the supply of electricity to a council of ministers meeting.
The union is proposing alternatives to the government plans and its general secretary Huseyin Sonmezoglu, has said that if the government does not listen and does not enter in a dialogue the unions will organise an indefinite strike [http://www.thecypriotchronicle.com/economy-news/the-north-braces-itself-for-more-strikes]. It has prepared tents for workers to stay overnight and public toilets have been arranged for supporters and families that visit the pickets. The General Secretary stated: “We have to accept being in darkness for a short period of time in order for our future to be bright”.
EPSU’s Jan Willem Goudriaan addressed a seminar of the union in which i the various arguments for and against privatisation were considered. He spoke of the problems liberalization has brought, pitfalls of the EU directive on the opening up of the electricity markets and the promises that have been broken with higher prices, with job losses and outsourcing, less investment and less research and training being the consequences. He further provided an overview of the experience of several unions with fighting privatisation in the EU and beyond.
Other speakers included the President of the confederation Turk-Sen. Arslan Bicakli warned the government to listen to the unions. He underlined that the unions are very much part of the European trade union movement. Jim Catterson of the global federation ICEM presented trends in the energy sector and examples of privatisation in other parts of the world.
The union is a member of Turk-Sen, a member of ETUC and ITUC. EPSU Deputy General Secretary participated on the invitation of the Pan-European Regional Council of ITUC and ETUC. The meeting took place on 16 December 2011 in Kyrenia.
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