Newsroom
It’s official: Cyprus’ hourly government employees are tired of feeling like second-class citizens in their own departments.
At a Pancyprian conference (yes, a meeting of representatives of the representatives), the unions representing more than 8,000 hourly public sector workers said the time has come to stop cutting corners at their expense. They’re asking the government for better pay and benefits for the years 2025 to 2027.
Their main gripe? That their wages are often lower than what similar jobs earn in the private sector, something they say is both unfair and outdated. And they’re not talking about desk jobs. These are mechanics, electricians, technicians who repair everything from medical machines to ancient monuments, and others working in sanitation, health, and safety, the people who keep things running behind the scenes.
What’s rubbing them the wrong way even more is that while they’re underpaid, the government is busy outsourcing their work to private contractors, at a higher cost to the state.
Now, here’s the irony: the International Monetary Fund just came out with a report saying Cyprus has a public sector that’s too big and that public workers, on the whole, are better paid than those in the private sector. But the hourly staff say they’re the exception to that generalisation, and they’re tired of being lumped in with the higher-paid crowd when their paychecks say otherwise.
Union reps also stressed the need to fully bring back the Cost-of-Living Allowance (ATA), to stop their wages from falling even further behind inflation. And they warned that the job cuts are hitting departments hard, making it harder for public services to function properly.
