Trade unions are preparing to escalate pressure on the government over labour policy, with a request for a meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides and a key labour advisory body meeting scheduled for January 9.

The unions Sek, Peo and Deok convened on Friday to coordinate further action, agreeing to submit a memorandum to the president addressing a range of labour issues, as well as crucially, the minimum wage.

Peo general secretary Sotiroulla Charalambous said the memorandum would be finalised within the next week.

She confirmed that discussions with the government would also take place within the framework of the labour advisory body, which will meet next Friday with the labour minister, trade unions and employers’ organisations.

Sek general secretary Andreas Matsas, speaking to the Cyprus News Agency after the union’s joint meeting, said a meeting with the President would mark a crucial turning point, as was a necessary condition to draft a timeline for further developments to be set out.

“Especially in relation to the minimum wage, we consider it imperative to re-evaluate-redefine both its amount and its hourly rate, in an effort to truly support the most vulnerable groups of workers, who have not benefited at any level from the recent tax reform, they are those for whom collective agreements are not applied, a thirteenth salary is not paid, they do not have any other supplementary pension or security measures (…),” he said.

Matsas added that, given the increase in the cost of living, the regulation of median salaries would have needed to be more apparent in order to foster social cohesion, as advocated by the European Commission.

Regarding the meeting with the President, he said that the union had prepared four main issues for discussion.

The first issue, Matsas said, concerned improvements regarding the minimum wage to increase its accuracy in conjunction with its hourly rate.

Although the debate on the minimum wage is expected to dominate the meeting, the agenda also includes a possible strategy for employing workers from third countries.

The possible expansion of collective agreements will mark the third topic to be discussed next Wednesday.

“This obligation emerges and is strengthened through the European Minimum Wage Directive and wage adequacy, in connection with the interconnection of public contracts with the condition of implementing a collective agreement,” he said.

According to Matsas, the latter has already been agreed upon with the President but has yet to be implemented.

The fourth point concerns the Ergani 2 software, the government’s online system designed to combat illegal work.

He added that the implementation of the system could help improve employment regulations, limit deviations from the agreed upon, as well as undeclared or indicated work.

Matsas said that implementing the system could help to improve employment regulations and limit deviations from work agreements, as well as undeclared work. The software had in the past criticised by the employers’ organisation as “failing to fulfil its intended purpose.”

The developments come amid fierce criticism from Akel and Peo over what they describe as inadequate social and welfare policies.

Akel leader Stefanos Stefanou said one in four Cypriots remains on a low income and one in seven is at risk of poverty, arguing that stagnant wages and economic insecurity show that current policies are failing large sections of society.

Peo have already expressed strong disappointment with the government’s decision, describing it as a setback that falls short of the EU directive on adequate minimum wages.

In a joint statement with Sek and Deok, the unions claimed that once inflation is taken into account, the effective increase amounts to just €67 after six months of employment, placing the minimum wage below the EU benchmark of 60 per cent of the median wage.

Criticism has been countered by fiscal council president Michalis Persianis, who cautioned that small businesses and youth employment could be disproportionately affected.