Newsroom
The Finance Ministry has put the total cost of the demands submitted by unions representing hourly-paid workers at around €50 million over the three-year period of the proposed agreement, as a strike remains scheduled for Thursday, September 17.
The ministry is calling on the unions to reconsider the industrial action and return to negotiations, saying the government has already agreed to most of their requests.
The main point of disagreement is an 8% general salary increase specifically for Hourly-Paid Government Staff (HPGS). The government estimates that this element alone would cost about €17 million a year from 2027.
The ministry said the total cost of the unions’ demands would amount to approximately €23 million annually from 2027, reaching €50 million across the three-year agreement.
The dispute
The government argues that an 8% increase cannot be negotiated exclusively for HPGS because similar treatment would then have to be considered for other categories of employees in the public and semi-public sectors.
If an 8% increase were applied across the entire public sector, the annual cost would exceed €300 million, according to the Finance Ministry. It said such an expense would not be compatible with the state’s financial capacity.
The ministry also said pay increases have traditionally been negotiated collectively through Framework Agreements between the Finance Minister and the unions, rather than separately for one group of workers.
The planned strike involves approximately 11,000 hourly-paid employees. Around 6,500 are employed as HPGS, while another 5,500 work for the State Health Services Organisation (OKYPY) and School Boards and are not included in the state payroll.
The Finance Ministry said five meetings had already taken place involving the Department of Public Administration and Personnel and the Director General, alongside two meetings of the Joint Labour Committee.
According to the ministry, most of the unions’ requests have received a positive response, with salary increases outside the established procedure remaining the principal exception.
Pay and employment changes
The government has also presented a list of changes made to hourly-paid employment conditions in recent years.
From January 2025, salary scales for hourly-paid occupations were combined with the immediately following scale, with Scale E10 excluded from the arrangement. The top points of all HPGS salary scales were also extended by two increments.
From January 2026, 702 forest firefighters and fire wardens and 237 firefighting workers were upgraded from Scale E6 to E7-E8. A further 250 seasonal and permanent lifeguards had previously been upgraded from E5 to E7-E8.
New regulations for forest firefighters and fire wardens also introduced a shift system under which eligible employees can receive shift allowances of 20% or 15%, depending on the period worked, for up to 10 months each year.
The ministry said around 1,500 workers who had previously been employed seasonally under contracts lasting six, eight or 10 months were given uninterrupted 12-month employment from January 2019, along with the status and benefits of permanent hourly-paid staff.
Changes to salaries and retirement benefits
The guaranteed provident fund rate was increased from 14.5% to 15% from January 2023 for service dating from January 2013. The change did not require higher contributions from hourly-paid employees and was intended to improve retirement benefits.
The ministry also pointed to increases in starting salaries and adjustments to other scales following changes linked to the national minimum wage, intended to preserve the relationship between the different HPGS grades.
Among the examples given was the pay of around 800 office cleaners in Scale E1. Their starting salary increased from €799 in 2020 to €1,088 in 2026 after six months, an increase of €289.
The maximum salary for the combined E1-E2 scale rose from €1,253 to €1,729 after the scales were linked in January 2025, representing an increase of €476, or 38%.
Hourly-paid government staff have also received the 1.5% general salary increase granted across the public service from October 2024. The government’s agreement to gradually restore the Cost of Living Allowance from 50% to 100% also applies to HPGS.
School staff included in dispute
The ministry also addressed the involvement of School Board hourly-paid employees in the industrial action.
It said approval had been given for 2,165 school assistants and escorts for children with special needs to be upgraded from Scale E3 to E5 from the start of the 2026-27 school year.
The E5 scale is part of the HPGS salary structure adopted for School Board hourly-paid employees.
The ministry estimates that hourly-paid salaries have risen by around 25% in recent years, taking into account scale upgrades, higher starting salaries and the public service increment system.
It said the current median salary among HPGS employees is €2,113, compared with a median salary of €1,968 in Cyprus.
Only 68 of approximately 6,500 HPGS employees are currently paid the statutory minimum wage, according to the ministry.
Government calls for emergency cover
The Finance Ministry has also urged unions to ensure that essential services retain emergency staffing during Thursday’s strike.
It specifically referred to hospitals, firefighting, water supply, prisons and telecommunications, arguing that minimum staffing must be maintained in services where interruptions could affect public health and safety.
The government has called on the unions to reconsider the strike, provide the necessary emergency cover and return to negotiations in what it described as a good-faith effort to reach an agreement.
