THE Labour Ministry’s revision of approved part-time jobs available to non-EU students – which came into force a week ago – has created confusion and problems for students and employers alike, it emerged yesterday.
From 2007, non-EU students with a valid student visa were allowed to work for up to 20 hours per week throughout the year in a range of jobs specified by the Labour Ministry, such as petrol-station attendants, home helps, bakery workers or cleaners. Students taking courses in hospitality or catering were also allowed to work full-time between 1 June and 15 October in the hospitality sector, as this was treated as work experience.
On December 18, 2009, Labour Minister Sotiroulla Charalambous issued a ministerial order revising the range of jobs. The order’s listing in the Government Gazette said that Charalambous had exercised her powers under the relevant clause of the Aliens and Immigration Law Chapter 105, after taking into account the state of the labour market in Cyprus, and after consulting with the trade unions and employers’ organisations.
Under the new ruling hospitality/catering jobs were excluded from the general list, but retained on a full-time basis for the period between 1 June and 15 October as work experience for those studying for the hospitality sector. As the order was due to come into force when normal trading resumed after the New Year holidays, employers were effectively given a 20-day grace period to make alternative arrangements.
One restaurateur, who preferred to remain anonymous, said: “Almost overnight, we had to sack the students we employed, as we heard that immigration officials would start to carry out checks on catering establishments.”
International Students Association of Cyprus (ISAC) President Mohamed Yassine Ennaem told the Cyprus Mail that his members were equally concerned.
“Most students are worried because they are not sure what the new measure is, or whether it will affect them,” he said. “Even heads of (private) colleges have told me they have not received any official notification of the new changes.”
The restaurateur we spoke to only heard about the new measure indirectly. When he contacted the ministry to ask what steps they had taken to inform employers, “they said that a notice had been published in the Government Gazette, and they had informed the trade unions.”
He was critical of the Ministry’s handling of the new measure. “Students from abroad arrived in September, paid their tuition fees for the year, made living arrangements, and then this decision comes out of the blue and changes the whole situation. We restaurateurs can cope with the change – we can hire EU citizens – but what about the students? They have been left hanging.”
Ennaem believes that the confusion has been harmful.
“Some employers have sacked students who come from EU countries simply due to the lack of clear information from the Ministry.”
Charalambous said yesterday that changing the list of approved student jobs was designed to address the dramatic increase in unemployment “without affecting the main objective of students, which is to complete a course and gain a qualification”.
She emphasised that “there is a fundamental difference between a student who is allowed to supplement his/her income on a part-time basis, and an unemployed person who needs a full-time job.
“For us, the main concern is to prevent a distortion of the labour market through the hiring of people from third countries who are only posing as students – also preventing those people from being taken advantage of.”
The minister did not accept the suggestion that employers would have difficulty replacing student staff.
“If an employer in the hospitality sector has had to dismiss staff who are in the country as students, he only has to contact his nearest Labour Office and explain his needs,” she said. “There are plenty of registered unemployed – both Cypriot nationals and EU citizens – who could fill those vacant positions, and we have facilitated that process by creating subsidised full-time and part-time employment schemes.”
Ennaem is not convinced that the new measure will achieve its objective. “The kind of jobs students are being allowed to do are the same as for asylum-seekers. Cypriots who want to work have jobs – some I know even have three or four jobs. But many Cypriots do not want to work, certainly not driving vans, cleaning, working in kitchens, and so on. Just deciding that students cannot work will not solve the problem.”
According to the student leader, there will also be an immediate knock-on effect for the economy: “If non-EU students don’t work, how will they pay for their accommodation and other expenses? It will be the colleges, the people renting out accommodation, employers, internet café-owners who will suffer first.”
