Citizen Service Centres cancel Monday strike

The Citizen Service Centres around the island will not be closed Monday morning after all, but employees say they are swamped with MIG welfare recipients and so they will accept application forms but won't not answer MIG questions.

The Centres have been operating lately as the one-stop-shop for Minimum Income Guaranteed (MIG) applicants and beneficiaries, who previously used to handle their affairs at the district level. Typical transactions at CSC -also known as KEP- include road tax payments, ID cards, some land and survey forms, and social insurance applications. 

The government has been shutting down redundant MIG operations at the Ministry level, transferring paperwork to any of the several CSCs in each town, leaving only one main office in Nicosia that could still provide assistance to applicants, beneficiaries and recipients.

CSC representatives issued a statement saying the last MIG office was shut down in Nicosia without any warning or consultation, prompting citizens who have many questions to flock to the CSC to file their paperwork.

“This decision, which was taken without any consultation with the CSC management, has resulted to having all the MIG applicants and beneficiaries visit the Centres, which are not capable of managing either the large volume or complicated cases,” the statement said.

At the same time, CSC representatives say, the staff has gone above and beyond to respond to the increasing demands but employees are “worn-out” and also end up receiving complaints from citizens.

An agency which was assigned to answer phone inquiries concerning MIG issues does not provide adequate help, according to the CSC complaint, saying the private operator does not even have electronic access to data and information.

This prompts the operators to refer the vast majority of citizens back to the CSC locations, which is 90% of those who call the service number according to the statement.

The CSC strike which was averted at the last minute was secheduled for Monday from 8am until 10am in all towns. But all centres will operate on normal schedules, starting at 8am. 

A previous CSC message was calling on the government to reopen MIG service spots in Nicosia and plan to operate more in other towns, otherwise CSC staff would consider taking more action.