Two-hour strike to protest CoLA changes

SEVERAL areas of the semi-government and private sector will be affected by a two-hour warning strike today as the unions flex their muscle to protest changes in the Cost of Living Allowance (CoLA.)

Peo general-secretary Michalakis Papaefstathiou yesterday told the Cyprus Mail the aim of the nationwide noon to 2pm strike was to “increase pressure on the government to change its positions on CoLA.”

He said the areas most affected would be wherever the unions were most strongly represented, “like in big supermarkets.”

The unions are angry at the government’s pledge not to include consumer taxes in its future CoLA calculations. VAT will, however, still be taken into account. The unions claim this is just a first step towards the eventual abolition of CoLA.

Papaefstathiou said teachers’ union Oelmek and bank employees union Etik had not yet announced whether they would be taking part in the strike, “although they have said they support the principal.”

Sek and civil service union Pasidy will not be joining in strike action, but the majority of the island’s remaining unions are behind the action.

Employers not only back the government on the exclusion of consumer taxes, but also want it extended to VAT, saying its inclusion in CoLA calculations would cost them millions of pounds.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.