Anti-sexual harassment code to be included in collective agreements

A comprehensive code covering sexual harassment is to be added to collective agreements as they come up for renewal, Labour Minister Zeta Emilianidou said on Tuesday.

This was another important step towards gender equality, she said after being handed a summary of the Code of Prevention and Countering Harassment and Sexual Harassment at Work in Collective Agreements.

The document was handed to the minister by a joint delegation from the Sek and Peo trade unions and the Employers and Industrialists Federation.

In a statement, Emilianidou said both the public service and private sectors had now completed steps to tackle the phenomenon.

The minister congratulated the unions and employer organisation for working together to prepare the code, which will be incorporated into collective agreements signed between employers and employees, “with the aim of avoiding such incidents and strictly enforcing the relevant legislation”, the minister said.

When asked when the code would be implemented, the minister said it would be incorporated into each collective agreement as and when they come up for renewal. The public sector has already done this, she said.

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.