The hotel workers’ branch of the PEO and SEO unions on Wednesday announced that they would eventually go on strike on Monday, July 28, as a “last resort”, after two weeks of issuing relevant warnings.

According to the unions, the strike responds to the continuous breach of a collective agreement signed in the presence of Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou in December 2024.

Said agreement, spanning a total of four years from January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2027, includes a one-time-payment of €240 for all employees for the year 2024, as well as a staggered wage increase split into four stages.

The first increase, 2 per cent, is to be applied from January 1, 2025, followed by another 1.25 per cent increase from Mach 1 2025 onwards. A third raise of 2 per cent was agreed upon starting from April 1, 2026 and the final raise, amounting to 1.75 per cent, was set to be applied from January 1, 2027 onwards.

The unions stressed that some of the hotels were still not applying what had been agreed upon in last year’s agreement.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail on Wednesday, PEO hotel workers general secretary, Neofytos Timini, emphasised that neither the unions nor the workers aimed to cause any disruption, but that they had been left with no alternative.

Timini said that the strike concerned around 60 hotels, most of which were part of a group of hotels, private and smaller hotels would most likely not be affected, he said.

“We are still under mediation with some of them,” he added.

Speaking to CyBC radio on Monday, SEK union hotel workers representative Michalis Frangou, voiced a similar stance to that of Timini.

“Our position is simple: we want the law and the agreement respected. Nothing more, nothing less,” he said.

In fact, the unions had been warning of the now-decided-on strike for almost two weeks following the pan-union conference on July 10. If no agreement for the full restoration of the contract was reached within the next few days, hotel workers announced that they would go on strike.

Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou, who had been mediating between the unions and the Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEV) in the past, a few hours after the strike announcement on Wednesday afternoon met with OEV representatives.

Although the cost-of-living allowance (CoLA) was expected to – once again – be the main topic on the meeting’s agenda, OEV director general Michalis Antoniou said that his federation was open to discussing other topics during the meeting if they were raised.

“We remain committed to the effort until the minister determines that we are reaching somewhere, either positively or negatively. We remain fully committed to finding a consensual and fully agreed solution,” he said, referring to the ongoing CoLA negotiations.

Antoniou said that OEV continued to aim for a comprehensive modernisation of CoLA, highlighting that the federation had adapted its proposals and was hoping they would be accepted by the unions.

However, he warned that OEV would not be willing to compromise, mitigate or even abandon its “ultimate goal of modernising the system according to the realities of today and the next 30-40 years”.

Considering the recent public statements and the “diligence shown” in the preparation of meetings between the unions and OEV, he added that “little room for hope” remained for reaching an agreement.

The meeting follows after Panayiotou had met with union representatives on Monday, July 21 to find a compromise on the future of CoLa agreement, with the unions announcing their warning to strike over the related agreement signed in December 2024.