Dorita Yiannakou
The labor shortage in Cyprus’ construction industry is getting worse. Building activity is picking up, new projects are getting underway, and employers are struggling to fill skilled jobs. The shortage affects tradespeople as well as workers in other roles directly involved in construction. Hiring from outside the EU is also getting harder. In previous years, Syria supplied a significant share of the sector’s non-EU workforce, but many of those workers have since returned home. The current hiring rules are failing to meet the industry’s needs.
Complaints over alleged breaches of collective agreements and labor law have made the shortage harder to address. Construction unions SEK, PEO and DEOK strongly oppose the Labor Ministry’s decision to grant permits to hire non-EU workers to companies facing formal complaints. The ministry says it withholds permits when a company is found to have breached a collective agreement or labor law.
Companies that fail to honor the industry’s collective agreement are being rewarded with more workers from abroad, the unions say.
The issue goes beyond a dispute between unions, employers and the government. The industry is struggling to fill jobs while under pressure to uphold workers’ rights and honor collective agreements. Labor Minister Marinos Mousiouttas has decided to reopen discussions on Nov. 17 on the policy for hiring workers from outside the EU, which the Cabinet approved in February 2025.
The challenge is to meet the construction industry’s staffing needs while fully protecting workers and enforcing labor law. If the shortage persists, it could become one of the biggest obstacles to the sector’s growth.
What the unions and the ministry say
Andreas Matsas, general secretary of SEK, told SPORT FM 95’s *Diaspora Eidiseon* program that changing the policy without first reaching agreement with unions and employers was weakening labor standards, creating unfair competition among businesses and workers, and undermining workers’ rights. He said complaints raised by the unions pointed to major gaps in how the policy was being applied. The effects, he said, were particularly noticeable in hotels and construction and were spreading to other sectors.
Matsas said the policy had been changed unilaterally for a second time, bypassing key safeguards previously agreed with unions and employers. One was a three-party technical committee that would assess staffing needs, review each company’s circumstances, and submit its findings to the Labor Ministry. That would give the ministry evidence to draw on when deciding whether to let a company hire workers from outside the EU. Matsas called for a full review of the policy and a rethink of how it is applied.
Adamos Katalanos, general secretary of PEO’s construction workers’ union, told Kathimerini that the union had received specific complaints about contractors breaching collective agreements and warned that it was prepared to take action. He said companies accused of disregarding the industrywide agreement were still being allowed to bring in additional workers.
The complaints cover agreed wages, public holiday pay, the 13th salary, contributions to provident funds, working hours and overtime. Katalanos said several of the companies named in the complaints also carry out public works. He said companies benefiting from public contracts in a growing economy should be expected to meet their basic obligations to workers.
A Labor Ministry source told Kathimerini that the ministry withholds permits from companies found to be in breach of labor law and that intensive inspections of construction companies are continuing. When inspectors find a breach of a foreign worker’s employment contract, they notify the Department of Labor, which can suspend or revoke work permits, the source said.
The ministry acknowledged that staffing shortages are a long-standing problem in Cyprus and elsewhere. Companies can apply to hire workers from outside the EU if they meet the legal requirements and comply fully with their obligations, it said.
An estimated 15,000 new approvals to hire non-EU workers are expected in 2026. The construction industry alone is estimated to need at least 5,000 more workers.
