Filenews 10 July 2024 - by Adamos Adamou
The technical group set up as a result of last April's agreement on foreign workers gets to work on Friday, with the aim of reaching convergences on setting minimum acceptable standards for free housing offered by some employers to their staff from third countries.
The improvement of the framework of living conditions of foreign workers through the formulation of appropriate standards was one of three points of the agreement "on the participation of foreign workers in the staffing of the labour market", which the social partners reached with the Minister of Labour Yiannis Panayiotou on April 22.
In this context, it is expected on Friday to examine some standards that already seem to have been prepared by the Department of Labor Relations, which will chair the meeting, as well as how to check compliance with any standards that are finally decided.
As we wrote in the past, the dialogue on housing standards will concern permits granted to foreign personnel by the Ministry of Labor, including those for agriculture and livestock farming, but will not concern domestic workers, since these procedures and approvals concern the Ministry of Interior.
At Friday's meeting, it is not excluded that the issue of increasing the salary cut of foreign workers for the provision of free housing will be raised again, an issue that is of great concern to the employers' side, which even raised its request at the recent meeting held at the Presidential Palace, between the President of the Republic of Cyprus and government officials with the business world. last Thursday.
However, in the absence of the Minister of Labour from Friday's meeting and high-ranking executives from the employers' organizations and the trade union movement, it is considered difficult to make a decision on the salary cut-off rate.
However, it is certain that an end to housing standards will open up precisely the issue of increasing the wage cut, as this is a demand persistently made by employers, due to the increase in rents and housing costs in general in recent years.
Today, the deduction made from the salaries of foreign workers, since they are provided with free housing, amounts to 10% and has been at the same level for many years - since 1991 - despite the significant increase recorded in rents and housing costs in general. Employers demanded that the 10% cut-off be increased to 25%.
As mentioned, the latest strategy for employing foreigners, as revised on the eve of the previous presidential elections, retained for housing purposes the possibility of deducting up to 10% from the salary of foreign workers. In addition, if the employer, in addition to accommodation, offers free food, "ie at least 3 daily meals of acceptable quality and quantity, he will be entitled to deduct from their salary for this purpose an additional amount of up to 15%".
Therefore, the cut-off in case of free housing and board reaches 25%, while if the employers' request to increase the cut-off for housing from 10% to 25% is met, it will reach 40%.
In such a case, there should be changes in the text of the strategy, as the above percentages are recorded in it.
