General News
Meropi Kyriacou Honored as TNH Educator of the Year
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
ATHENS – After making it easier for employers to fire workers, the new New Democracy government is going to push a measure that would require unions let workers vote electronically to prove there’s a majority for any prospective strikes.
Government sources who weren’t identified told Kathimerini that there won’t be any change to a provision passed by decree in 2018 when the Radical Left SYRIZA was in power that requires a majority of active members of a trade union back support striking.
But there was no way to validate that and Labor Minister Yiannis Vroutis said electronic voting will soon be required – there was no explanation how its safety from hacking or manipulation could be guaranteed.
Vroutis said the scheme means “the unrestricted universal participation of workers in the exercise of their rights.” An electronic register of members of both employer and employee trade unions will also be created that will also enhance transparency.
Also under discussion is the creation of a special web page for employers where trade unions can publish strike actions, it was said, with legal experts telling the paper that a basic precondition for the digitization project is the safeguarding of personal data of labor union members in an age where data breaches are common.
They said that vote confidentiality must be ensured and that the integrity of the voting procedure is secured but there were no details on how that would be accomplished.
New Democracy is taking a 180-degree different approach from SYRIZA in some cases, although the Leftists also stripped workers of rights. The government attached last-second amendments to an omnibus bill that will end a requirement that employers must justify in writing the reason for firing or laying off workers, benefiting businesses instead of workers.
That led to most of the opposition parties walking out in complaint that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ New Democracy government is against workers and with the elite as former Premier Alexis Tsipras had repeatedly said before being ousted in July 7 snap elections that he called.
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
CLOSTER, NJ – The well-attended Greek Independence Day Celebration in Closter, NJ, took place on March 25, beginning with the Flag Raising Ceremony at Ruckman Park in Closter.
ALBANY – New York State Assemblyman Michael Tannousis (R, C-Staten Island/Brooklyn) on March 26 was joined in Albany by His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America to recognize Greek Independence Day and the 50th anniversary of the illegal Turkish invasion and continued occupation of Cyprus.
ATHENS - Historic member of PASOK and passionate advocate of the recognition of Pontian Greek genocide Michalis Charalambidis died on Wednesday aged 73.
ATHENS - While the New Democracy government denied audio files from the 2023 head-on train crash in Tempe which killed 57 had been tampered with, five managers at the state-run OSE railways agency reportedly had access to them.
FAIRVIEW, NJ – The Greek Cypriots of New Jersey under the auspices of the Federation of Cypriot American Organizations, the Consulate General of the Republic of Cyprus in New York and Consul General of Cyprus Michalis Firillas will commemorate the 69th Anniversary of the EOKA Liberation Struggle of Cyprus from British Colonial Rule 1955-1959, with a memorial service at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Ascension, 101 Anderson Avenue in Fairview, NJ, on Sunday, March 31.