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- Ελληνικά
During today's meeting of the Labour Advisory Council, the implementation of the enhanced measures to tackle undeclared and illegal work decided by the Council of Ministers and the implementation of the support measures for Turkish Cypriots announced by the President of the Republic, which fall within the competence of the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance, were discussed with the social partners.
With regard to tackling undeclared and illegal work, the social partners agree on the need to implement effective measures that will substantially reduce the extent of the phenomenon, which negatively affects healthy economic competition, smooth labour relations, the sustainability of the pension system and the management of illegal migration flows, while expressing their willingness to make a substantial contribution and constructive cooperation in this direction.
The members of the College were presented with concrete data confirming the rise of the phenomenon and its link with increased migratory flows. During the first quarter of 2024, 1813 inspections have been carried out, during which 4320 persons were checked and 374 cases of undeclared and illegal work were detected, for which fines totalling 308800 euros were imposed. It is also noted that of the 34900 foreigners aged 17 to 65 who are in the country as beneficiaries of international or subsidiary protection or as asylum seekers, only 8402 are paying contributions to the Social Security Fund, representing around 24% of the total.
The social partners were informed on the progress of the implementation of the measures decided by the Council of Ministers:
- the increase in the number of inspections carried out and the targeting of specific places and hours,
- the extension of the coordinated operations of the Inspection Service of the Ministry of Labour and the Aliens and Immigration Service of the Police,
- the interconnection of available IT systems and existing databases for the exploitation of data and information,
- the conduct of an outreach campaign to third country nationals aged 17 - 65 years old who are legally in Cyprus and are not identified as legal workers,
- the investigation of the link between employers who practice undeclared and illegal employment of foreigners and traffickers of illegal immigrants,
- and the preparation of an information campaign on the consequences and effects of undeclared and illegal work,
while making recommendations and making observations to further improve the effectiveness of the measures taken.
In addition, an extensive dialogue was held on the legislative changes concerning the strengthening of the institutional framework for tackling undeclared and illegal work and suggestions were made in this direction:
- the imposition of an extrajudicial fine of €1000 for each case of undeclared work,
- the inclusion of liability on the main contractor in addition to the subcontractor, for cases of undeclared work,
- and the doubling of the extrajudicial fine in the event of a repeat offence with a new case of undeclared work,
- while the debate on the bill prepared for the electronic census of all employees in the information system of the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance was completed.
It is noted that the Government's aim is to complete the relevant bills for submission to the House of Representatives in June, so that they can be put before the plenary session before the summer session.
We again call on all employers to comply immediately with the provisions of the legislation and to cooperate with the Ministry of Labour, making use of the potential of the domestic human resources and workers legally in the country with legal access to the labour market by registering in the ERGANI electronic system the details of all employees they employ and by paying to the Social Insurance Fund all the insurance contributions due to them.
Undeclared and illegal work affects the public interest with multiple negative consequences and the Government is determined to tackle it drastically.
With regard to the implementation of the support measures for Turkish Cypriots announced by the President of the Republic and falling within the competence of the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance, the members of the Labour Advisory Board were informed about the payment of the widow's pension to Turkish Cypriot beneficiaries and the participation of Turkish Cypriots in human resources development programmes.
Specifically, regarding the payment of widow's pension to Turkish Cypriot beneficiaries, the Social Insurance Services with the guidance of the Legal Service are now assessing the claims submitted by spouses of Turkish Cypriots who paid insurance contributions to the Social Insurance Fund and acquired pension rights in accordance with the provisions of the legislation, taking into account a sworn statement and a personal interview on the marriage of the applicants. Also, for married Turkish Cypriots who are currently working and paying social security contributions, the possibility of a joint submission of a sworn statement by the spouses on the celebration of marriage will be provided for the purposes of possible future use on the model of the procedure applied for the needs of the General Health Care System.
In addition, regarding the participation of Turkish Cypriots in human resources development programmes, the Productivity Centre in cooperation with the Human Resources Development Authority has already planned vocational training programmes in Turkish language to be implemented within the period May - December 2024, on the development of green and digital skills in view of the green and digital transition, as well as on issues related to the European acquis, with the possibility of participation of 1000 Turkish Cypriots.[/]
In addition, regarding the participation of Turkish Cypriots in human resources development programmes, the Productivity Centre in cooperation with the Human Resources Development Authority has already planned vocational training programmes in Turkish language to be implemented within the period May - December 2024, on the development of green and digital skills in view of the green and digital transition, as well as on issues related to the European acquis, with the possibility of participation of 1000 Turkish Cypriots.
