Sell-offs provoke strike action

Unions in Cyprus, bailed out last year after a banking crisis, have taken strike action against government privatisation plans.

Under the terms of the bailout agreement with the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the Cypriot government is committed to raising €1.4 billion (£1.15 billion) through sales of publicly owned companies by 2018.

It plans to sell stakes in the state-owned CyTA telecommunications company and in the docks by the end of 2015 as well as the electricity company, ECA, by the end of 2017.

Unions oppose the plans, arguing that they have not been consulted and that workers’ terms and conditions will suffer.