August 25, 2022
August 25, 2022
August 25, 2022
August 25, 2022
August 25, 2022
August 24, 2022
August 23, 2022
August 21, 2022
August 21, 2022
August 20, 2022
August 19, 2022
August 17, 2022
August 25, 2022
August 25, 2022
August 25, 2022
August 25, 2022
August 24, 2022
August 24, 2022
August 24, 2022
August 24, 2022
August 23, 2022
August 12, 2022
June 19, 2022
June 11, 2022
June 8, 2022
April 19, 2022
The federation of independent trade unions (Poaso) this week called for an increase in salaries and for the cost-of-living-allowance (CoLA) in Cyprus to be fully reinstated.
CoLA, which refers to the automatic indexation of wages according to the cost of living and is informed by the Cyprus Consumer Price Index (CPI), is currently capped at half of its true value, something which Poaso deems inadequate.
The federation said that these measures would help people cope with soaring inflation, the decline in real income, as well as the at-risk-of-poverty rate.
According to the federation, the average annual family income in Cyprus, based on data provided by the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat), currently stands at €34,229, which corresponds to €2,633 per month.
Poaso then referenced a newspaper interview by economist Stelios Platis, in which he explained that a family of four living in Cyprus requires a net income of approximately €3,000 to €3,500 per month to maintain a decent lifestyle.
Moreover, it referenced a recent report by the statistical service stating that over 17 per cent of the population in Cyprus, or 154,000 people, were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2021.
This means that 17.3 per cent of the population was living in households whose disposable income was below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold or was severely materially and socially deprived or was living in households with very low work intensity.
“The pandemic and the war in Ukraine, together with the sanctions imposed on Russia, have led to a spike in the prices of raw materials for industry, energy, food, and transport, resulting in double-digit inflation, an increase in interest rates and the erosion of the purchasing value of wages,” the federation said.
That is why, the federation added, trade unions across Europe are calling for governments to intervene in order to restore true purchasing power and help workers with attaining fair salary increases.
“The taxation of windfall profits generated by energy companies, with the revenue being used to mitigate energy costs for consumers, has also been a persistent demand across Europe”, the federation said, noting that inflation is being fueled by high energy prices and not wages.
“Tens of thousands of transport workers in England, on buses, underground and overground rail, are currently on strike action for higher wages and better working conditions,” it added, explaining that workers in other British industries, including dock workers, lawyers, teachers, and nurses, are also preparing various strike actions in support of wage-related demands.
What is more, the federation also said that the European Commission asserts that rising energy prices remain the main driver of inflation, while at the same time maintaining that persistent feedback between wages and inflation is unlikely to develop, since wage growth in real terms remains negative.
This is in reference to a recent paper released by the ECB which noted that in terms of private sector wages, various analyses concluded that “the likelihood of wage-setting schemes triggering second-round effects via inflation indexation is relatively limited in the euro area, particularly when it comes to energy inflation”.
The federation went on to say that it agrees with University of Cyprus professor Stavros Zenios, who emphasised that the value of workers, even those with low skills, was demonstrated both during the banking crisis and the pandemic.
“We cannot, for example, have the taxpayer bail out banks from their mistakes or airlines from the issues caused by lockdowns, but then revert to the absolute dominance of shareholders and markets,” the federation said.
“There must be greater worker participation in how wealth is distributed”, it concluded.
We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.
You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in .
What Are Cookies
As is common practice with almost all professional websites, https://cyprus-mail.com (our “Site”) uses cookies, which are tiny files that are downloaded to your device, to improve your experience.
This document describes what information they gather, how we use it, and why we sometimes need to store these cookies. We will also share how you can prevent these cookies from being stored however this may downgrade or ‘break’ certain elements of the Site’s functionality.
How We Use Cookies
We use cookies for a variety of reasons detailed below. Unfortunately, in most cases, there are no industry standard options for disabling cookies without completely disabling the functionality and features they add to the site. It is recommended that you leave on all cookies if you are not sure whether you need them or not, in case they are used to provide a service that you use.
The types of cookies used on this Site can be classified into one of three categories:
Disabling Cookies
You can prevent the setting of cookies by adjusting the settings on your browser (see your browser’s “Help” option on how to do this). Be aware that disabling cookies may affect the functionality of this and many other websites that you visit. Therefore, it is recommended that you do not disable cookies.
Third-Party Cookies
In some special cases, we also use cookies provided by trusted third parties. Our Site uses [Google Analytics] which is one of the most widespread and trusted analytics solutions on the web for helping us to understand how you use the Site and ways that we can improve your experience. These cookies may track things such as how long you spend on the Site and the pages that you visit so that we can continue to produce engaging content. For more information on Google Analytics cookies, see the official Google Analytics page.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is Google’s analytics tool that helps our website to understand how visitors engage with their properties. It may use a set of cookies to collect information and report website usage statistics without personally identifying individual visitors to Google. The main cookie used by Google Analytics is the ‘__ga’ cookie.
In addition to reporting website usage statistics, Google Analytics can also be used, together with some of the advertising cookies, to help show more relevant ads on Google properties (like Google Search) and across the web and to measure interactions with the ads Google shows.
Learn more about Analytics cookies and privacy information.
Use of IP Addresses
An IP address is a numeric code that identifies your device on the Internet. We might use your IP address and browser type to help analyze usage patterns and diagnose problems on this Site and improve the service we offer to you. But without additional information, your IP address does not identify you as an individual.
Your Choice
When you accessed this Site, our cookies were sent to your web browser and stored on your device. By using our Site, you agree to the use of cookies and similar technologies.
More Information
Hopefully, the above information has clarified things for you. As it was previously mentioned, if you are not sure whether you want to allow the cookies or not, it is usually safer to leave cookies enabled in case it interacts with one of the features you use on our Site. However, if you are still looking for more information, then feel free to contact us via email at [email protected]
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.