Filenews 1 June 2022 - by Adamou Adamou
The European Commission also takes a positive view of the government's intention to introduce a national minimum wage, citing a study, that such a development will strengthen not only workers, but also public finances.
Specifically, in the latest report of the Commission, in the context of the European Semester, reference is made to the issue, with the EU also referring to a specific level of the national minimum wage, citing a relevant study by the Research Centre of the European Commission, based on the Euromod model, which is estimated to be the study requested and long taken by the Minister of Labour from the EU.
The Commission, in the context of its country-specific recommendations report published, at the end of May, Cyprus' intention to establish a universal, regulated, minimum wage, stating on the subject that according to a recent study a monthly minimum wage of €1000 is expected to have a significant impact on reducing the risk of poverty (-10 %), in particular in-work poverty (-22 %) and how it will mainly benefit young people, as well as working women. Moreover, the report adds verbatim that "the reform will have a positive impact on the state budget, increasing taxes and social security contributions while reducing expenditure on social benefits."
It is worth noting that the benefits that will result from the introduction of the national minimum wage were also developed by the Minister of Labour Zeta Emilianidou, in the context of the discussions that took place in the Labour Advisory Body on the issue, without, however, mentioning its amount.
After all, the amount that will eventually be agreed or decided by the government on the issue is one of the issues that continues to be of concern to the social dialogue. However, as we have written again, the prevailing scenario is that the national minimum wage will be linked to the median wage in the country, with the aim of gradually reaching 60% of the median, while it seems, as the guilds are demanding, that it will not be below the existing minimum wage applied to specific professions.
The median salary is around €1,573, with the reference year being 2020 and if the national minimum wage is decided to rise to 60% of the median wage, it will be around €944. The current minimum wage, which applies to specific professions and sectors without a large trade union organization, such as clerks, salesmen, school assistants, nursing assistants, etc., amounts to €870 and rises to €924 (gross) after a period of six months.
They got assurances from Karousos
The government, however, despite the health of the Minister of Labour, keeps the issue among its immediate priorities, since the introduction of a national minimum wage can also act as another measure to curb the accuracy, although a period of adjustment in this direction is expected to be given.
In this context, the Minister of Transport, Yiannis Karousos, who also serves as Minister of Labour due to the absence of Mrs. Emilianidou, saw last week in separate meetings the leaderships of the guilds, to discuss the issues that are pending to be settled, with the first item on the agenda of the contacts being the national minimum wage.
According to information provided by "F", Mr. Karousos informed the guilds that there is no question of backtracking on what has already been discussed with the Minister of Labour in the framework of the Labour Advisory Body and that the issue is being closely followed by the President of the Republic.
However, due to the state of health of the Minister of Labour, the timetable set for closing the matter at the end of May will de facto not be implemented. However, as trade union leaders said, speaking to "F", the assurances received from Mr. Karousos that there is no differentiation in what has so far been discussed with the Minister of Labour leaves the guilds satisfied for the time being.
