My last scheduled meeting with the social partners on the issue of ATA has been completed.
Since last Thursday, 12 January 2023, I continued contacts and consultations in an attempt to bridge the different, I would say diametrically opposed, positions of employers' organisations and trade unions.
The positions of both sides are well known and I do not consider it necessary to repeat them. As I stated on 12 January, during the joint meeting that preceded it, I noted some small but substantial differences in the positions of the social partners, which gave, even if only a small, positive perspective to the dialogue that was taking place and the mediation of the Ministry of Labour, which is why I asked for an extension of time so that I could be given the opportunity for further contacts.
During the contacts and consultations that I have had in the last few days, it has become clear that the parties are not yet ready to differentiate their last recorded positions.
I consider that the distance between the parties is so great that it is absolutely impossible for me to submit, at the present time, a mediation proposal that has the slightest hope of being accepted.
I wish to remind and emphasize clearly, as I have done repeatedly in recent times, that:
[*]The Government is not in favour of abolishing the institution of the ATA. [*]President Anastasiades is the one who reinstated the institution of ATA, which was frozen in 2012. [*]Based on the provisions of the Transitional Agreement signed by the social partners on 28.7.2017, 50% of the ATA should be paid to eligible workers until a new agreement is signed. This percentage amounts to 4.36%.
I will continue my efforts to reach a consensual agreement, despite the limited possibilities I have due to both the positions of the social partners and the limited time remaining until the new President of the Republic who will be elected and his government take over the governance of the country. I am confident that the new Minister of Labour and Social Security will continue efforts to find a mutually acceptable solution.
The year 2023 will be a year of intense challenges for the economy of our country, due to the international conditions that are taking shape and that we are already experiencing, either with the increase in inflation, or with the rise in interest rates and prices and certainly with the reduced growth rates that are expected.
Let us not forget that we experienced the 2013 crisis, the coronavirus pandemic crisis, and now we are experiencing the consequences of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which have had and continue to have a substantial impact on the economy.
At the same time, it has not escaped my attention that the country's economy has achieved high growth rates in recent years, but neither has the fact that workers have lost a significant proportion of the purchasing power of their wages due to high inflation.
Nothing, therefore, can be taken for granted.
We have to protect the country's economy. A key pillar for steady progress and the preservation of the economy and its prospects is certainly, and labor peace. I therefore appeal to the seriousness and responsibility of the social partners and call on them all to rise to the occasion and safeguard industrial peace.
The Ministry of Labour, as the competent authority par excellence and as the guardian of industrial peace, will always be at the forefront and ready to cooperate with the social partners in this objective.
(SX)
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