With slogans in favor of maintaining the Automatic Cost-of-Living Allowance and its universal application, public and private sector employees gathered outside the Ministry of Finance as part of today’s general strike.
Present at the demonstration were PASYDY, SEK, PEO, DEOK, as well as the Cyprus Teachers’ Organization, with a strong police presence and the Z unit deployed to ensure order and safety.
The unions, it is noted, are demanding the preservation of CoLA under the existing framework for public servants, while also calling for its extension to the private sector so that, as they stress, the discrimination between workers comes to an end.
At the same time, they express deep scepticism over the government’s promise of a medium-term solution through dialogue, warning that “there is a risk it will remain on paper”.
Speaking to Politis, a SEK member employed at the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission admitted that strikers are aware they will lose a day’s pay, remarking characteristically that “when you fight for something, you know you must sacrifice something”.
“We are demanding the full restoration of CoLA to 100%, not as a salary increase but to preserve the value of wages in line with inflation”, representatives of the Cyprus Teachers’ Organisation emphasized.
In addition, private-sector employees told Politis that they are striking even though their employers stated they would neither grant ATA nor pay them today. “It cannot be that half are on strike while the others are working”, they noted.
It is further reported that today’s three-hour work stoppage (11:00–14:00) has caused significant disruptions in schools, hospitals, airports, and essential state services, while trade unions are warning of escalation should there be no clear government commitment.