The Labour Advisory Body meets on Friday for the first time since the government set the minimum wage, bringing together employers and trade unions who both voiced strong complaints about the decision.
The session will be the first in months and the first presided over by new Labour Minister Marinos Mousiouttas.
Trade unions have requested a meeting with the President of the Republic and are expected to raise demands for immediate changes to the decree. They have sent a memorandum to the President outlining four key issues.
The first is the minimum wage itself. The second concerns foreign workers from third countries, with trade unions noting that the employer side implements the agreement as it pleases, resulting in complete deregulation of the labour market in certain economic sectors, they argue.
Third, unions want the extension of collective agreements to more economic activity sectors and the linking of public works tender submissions with employer application of collective agreements.
Fourth, they are calling for the immediate promotion of the Ergani 2 system, which will bring better and more complete control in the labour market and drastically reduce any illegalities.
The employers’ side has expressed strong disagreement with the minimum wage level.
The Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEB) has warned of chain effects on the economy, explaining that the minimum wage increase will result in price increases and cause viability problems for several businesses.
Whilst the minimum wage was set at €1,088, the cost for employers reaches €1,255 per month. However, OEB stresses that whilst disagreements may have been expressed, the discussion on the minimum wage ended with the decree’s issuance.
“Any acceptance of the trade unions’ demand for revision of the national minimum wage set from 1/1/2026 would equal abolition of tripartite cooperation rules and would lead labour relations to ‘chaos’,” OEB general director Michalis Antoniou said in a post on platform X a few days ago.