The government backs down in the face of the employers' demands, AKEL said in its statement, noting that it is changing the methodology of calculating the amount of the minimum wage in a way that brings it lower, ignoring the galloping accuracy that nibbles away at wages.
According to AKEL's statement, the government seems ready to discuss exemptions and gradations of workers from the minimum wage, while AKEL remains firmly on the side of the trade union movement that is demanding a re-regulation of labour relations, setting out the 3 ways to achieve it.
The statement:
"The meeting at the Presidential Office on the minimum wage did not yield anything tangible, despite the expectations that have been cultivated throughout the last period.
On the contrary, from what can be seen from the positions of the employers' organisations, the government is giving in to the employers' demands. It is changing the methodology for calculating the amount of the minimum wage in a way that brings it down further, ignoring the galloping accuracy that gnaws away at wages. At the same time, the government seems ready to discuss exemptions and worker classifications from the minimum wage guarantee.
AKEL remains firmly on the side of the trade union movement demanding the re-regulation of labour relations with:
- Institutional regulations ensuring that the basic terms of sectoral collective labour agreements, including minimum wages, will be compulsorily applied to all workers in the sector.
- Decent minimum wages for those workers not covered by a collective agreement without exceptions and gradations, which respond to the sweeping increase in the cost of living and combat the phenomenon of the working poor,
- Restore the ATA and extend it to every worker in the country"
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