Sek union on Friday urged President Nikos Christodoulides to improve labour relations across the job market, while expanding benefits such as the cost of living allowance (CoLA) and provident funds.

In their first official meeting since Christodoulides’ election, the meeting at the presidential palace lasted for around an hour and included Sek reps as well as Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou.

“Sek emphasised the need to expand collective agreements in an effort to support the entirety of employees both for the quality and dignity in their work,” the union general secretary Andreas Matsas said.

During the meeting, the parties also discussed the strategy behind third-country nationals’ employment, with Matsas urging a review of the current practise so as to offer support to local workers.

The union rep also suggested a holistic reform of the existing pension scheme, so it can be “socially just,” he said.

Additionally, Matsas brought up a request to offer support to vulnerable members of the population, doing so by encouraging provident fund.

The parties discussed ways to utilise the recovery and resilience plan to benefit the labour market, green development and transitioning to the digital era, he added.

According to Matsas, Christodoulides responded positively to all the matters the union brought up and more meetings in the future may reap concrete results.