Cyprus labour minister calls 17 November meeting over foreign worker rules
Marinos Moushouttas has summoned unions and employers to revisit the policy on hiring third-country staff, after SEK and other unions said abuses are spreading in hotels and construction.
Labour Minister Marinos Moushouttas has scheduled a meeting with unions and employers for 17 November to review the policy governing third-country workers, as reported by Phileleftheros. The talks will take place separately from the Labour Advisory Board.
Trade unions argue that violations have clustered in hotels and construction, with legally operating firms losing ground to rivals that trim costs by bypassing collective agreements. SEK general secretary Andreas Matsas made the case in an article titled ‘Strategy for deregulating the labour market’, describing the revised strategy as having loosened the market in a dangerous way.
“In several cases in the hotel sector, conditions resembling a ‘slave market’ are recorded,” Matsas wrote.
What it means for residents
The review could touch the framework the Cabinet approved in early 2025, which unions opposed at the time. For anyone working in hotels or on building sites, the outcome may shape pay deductions, housing arrangements and how easily staff can be shifted between an employer's premises.
- Housing deductions. The cap on deducting accommodation costs from gross basic pay was raised from 10 to 25 per cent under the 2025 framework — a figure unions want revisited.
- Staff transfers. Rules allowing workers to move between premises of the same employer within a district drew union objections and could be back on the table.
- Public contracts. SEK is pressing for public tenders to be tied to collective agreements, which could affect which firms win state work.
This text is written from the source article and is not a translation of it.
