Unions want pay rises despite recession

Workers’ unions are determined to demand salary increases this year despite the current recession, they said. Trade union DEOK said this week its general council had agreed to pursue salary increases of 1.5 per cent. The decision had been reached only after having evaluated and weighed labour data and taking into account the current financial crisis, it said.

DEOK announced its decision on Tuesday as part of its policy on renewing public sector and semi-government organisation employees’ collective agreements. “According to the Council’s assessment the financial crisis cannot and should not be used as a pretext to impose anti labour policies and to freeze salaries and benefits,” it said.

“The majority of workers in the wider public sector belong to middle and low income groups. Also hourly staff and low-paid personnel do not belong to the so-called privileged class of workers.” DEOK said it would responsibly and conscientiously support improving workers’ incomes without ignoring the country’s economic resilience and capabilities.

Trade union PEO also said it would “follow a responsibly restrained policy in seeking increases”. Although the union did not specify exactly what sort of pay rise it would be demanding for its members it said the increases would roughly mirror the average increase of productivity of the past three years. It said the renewal of collective agreements would be fair and logical “so that workers are not burdened with the crisis one-sidedly” and that it would strive to ensure the implementation of those agreements and to protect employment.

PEO said it was particularly concerned by the violations of collective agreements, the exploitation of foreign workers as cheap and unprotected labour, and the refusal of many employers to accept workers’ right to organise. Meanwhile the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KEVE) said on January 1 the cost of living allowance (COLA) had increased to 295.32 per cent on basic salaries from 289.86 per cent in the last six months.

KEVE also expressed its deep concern and disappointment regarding the political rift with respect to the local economy. It said such juxtapositions fuelled the general public’s confusion and influenced investors’ and citizens’ psychology

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