Filenews 9 July 2022 - by Theano Thiopoulou
The foundations were laid yesterday for the dialogue to start where it ended with the former Minister of Labour Zeta Emilianidou and for the developments to run in a short period of time, with the aim of "locking in" the establishment of a minimum wage, accepted by employers, employees and the Government.
In fact, it emerges from yesterday's meeting of the Minister of Labour Kyriakos Kousios with the social partners that the Government is starting the negotiation for the minimum wage from the €924 that is currently the minimum for 8-9 professions, after six months of work.
It is possible that, as trade unionists claim, the ATA of 2022 and 2023 will be added to this amount, as the current inflationary pressures, which affect the low-wage earners and those employed in unregulated professions the most, are expected to continue for a long time.
From yesterday's meeting it seems that somewhat the climate is improving and the conditions are being created for bridging differences. According to information from "F", the message given by the minister to the social partners is that the minimum wage will not be below €924, allaying to some extent the concerns expressed by the trade unions. He even made it clear that the framework for discussion will be the one prepared by the late Zeta.
As a result of yesterday's meeting, the culmination of the consultations will take place on 21 July, with separate meetings between Mr Kousios and the social partners and on 22 July with a joint meeting. Subsequently, he will inform the President of the Republic and perhaps the final political decision will be taken by the Government and president Anastasiades personally.
What was made clear at yesterday's meeting is that consultation with the social partners does not start from the beginning but from the point where the discussion with the former minister left off. The technocrats of the Ministry of Labour immediately got to work with the aim of preparing the final framework for the establishment of the minimum wage, which will be the subject of consultation of the Minister of Labour on the two days of July 21-22.
After the meeting, the general manager of OEB Michalis Antoniou in statements to "F" said that he remains optimistic about the outcome of the issue, emphasizing that over time there has been maturity from the social partners to find solutions to the big issues.
Lowest for how many hours of work?
A key point for consensual solutions for setting the minimum wage is the choice of the methodology for calculating it, to be agreed between the government and the social partners. It is noted that both OEB and CCCI disagreed on the adoption of the median wage with the EU-SILC formula, something that the trade unions do not discuss. The list of exceptions for professions that will not be under the umbrella of the minimum wage will probably remain as defined by the former Minister of Labour, which includes domestic workers, workers in the agricultural and shipping sectors. Employers had expressed a desire to include bakery workers in the list of exceptions, which does not seem to be acceptable. The guilds stress that there is still a long way to go to clarify the issue, as it remains a matter of urgency whether the minimum wage will be for 38 hours of work, which is of great interest to them.
LABELLING
We have not increased competitiveness
What should trouble the business world is because while salaries in the private sector have been reduced or frozen, the competitiveness of Cypriot businesses is not increasing. The average salaries in the Scandinavian countries are €2,200 and their businesses are among the most competitive. We will all have to see what goes wrong and we cannot increase competitiveness. It seems that wages are not the problem. We expect OEB and CCCI to do their own studies. Europe now recognises that generous welfare states and the protection of workers are not the cause of problems, they are the solution.
