Tomorrow’s meeting of the National Minimum Wage Review Committee is expected to mark a turning point in ongoing discussions over pay increases.
According to the agreed schedule, each organisation on the committee will table its final positions on Friday, 5 December, with an official document—not an agreement—containing all partners’ positions due on 8 December.
Each organisation will submit its own positions, though there is the possibility of joint positions emerging from trade unions, employers, and government representatives.
At the final stage of discussions, the committee will submit its recommendations to the Labour Minister, who will first inform the Labour Advisory Board before taking the matter to the Cabinet, the body responsible for the final decision on revising the minimum wage level. The committee is not required to give a single unified recommendation.
Last time, according to information obtained, trade unions, employers, and government representatives each gave different recommendations. The proposals are recommendations only, not binding decisions.
However, one issue likely to arise in further discussions is which median salary should be used as the basis for calculating the minimum.
PEO general secretary Sotiroula Charalambous raised the matter, saying work is being done on this question because the new minimum will remain in force until 2028.
Speaking to Alpha on Tuesday, Charalambous noted that factors to be considered when setting the minimum should include purchasing power and economic growth. “It has already been agreed that the minimum wage to be announced for 2026 will include the COLA adjustments for 2025 and 2024. Beyond that, of course, we will look at economic growth, which we are constantly told is being upgraded and going very well”.
At the same time, she said, PEO is preparing an exercise “not based on the 2024 median, but with a calculation of the 2025 median, because that is what we must take into account, since this minimum will be for 2026 and 2027 and should be as close to reality as possible”.
Another parameter PEO is raising is that the percentage increase in the minimum should be the same for both the initial wage and the six-month rate.