Workers mark May Day with calls for peace, justice and better wages

Unionists across Cyprus used May Day to call for improved labour rights, higher wages, affordable housing and renewed efforts for peace and reunification.

Protesters gathered in central Nicosia on Thursday afternoon to mark May Day, honouring a century of workers’ struggle on the island and calling for stronger rights, higher wages and peace.

Police estimated the turnout at around 1,100, while trade union Peo put the number closer to 2,000. Demonstrators from various parties, organisations and unions began their marches from different parts of the capital, converging at Eleftheria Square.

The labour organisation Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) staged a protest outside Ledra Street’s Cafe Pieto before joining the main gathering.

Around 50 protesters handed out leaflets and delivered a speech accusing the cafe of exploiting asylum seekers and migrant workers.

Eleftheria Square was filled with red flags from Peo, KKE (Communist Party of Greece) and other labour organisations, punctuated by the green and white of Akel youth wing Edon and football club Omonia.

From there, the crowd marched to the Buffer Zone, where they joined Turkish Cypriot labour groups.

“It’s a nice day to see that we’re not alone,” said a 29-year-old protester marching with IWW. “I go every year.”

At the field behind the Home for Cooperation, union representatives from both the north and south gave speeches in Greek and Turkish, underscoring the shared challenges and hopes of workers on both sides of the divide.

“The division weakened workers’ rights on both sides,” said a Turkish Cypriot member of the Eastern Mediterranean University Student Solidarity Organisation. “There is a need for unity. We need to stand together for workers’ rights.” The 20-year-old added that this was his second time attending May Day protests.

Speaking in Limassol, Peo district secretary Maria Christodoulou Siggeri criticised both the current and previous governments for celebrating economic indicators while ignoring the reality faced by thousands of low-paid workers.

“They talk about upgrades, bank profits and business growth, but they don’t see the 165,000 people living on the edge of poverty,” she said during a rally that began with a march from the union building to Enaerios. “One in five workers is low-paid, and for thousands of families the month doesn’t stretch to the end.”

Siggeri said the struggle for decent wages was central to the union’s demands, particularly with regard to new hires, and insisted that the government must take legislative steps to enforce minimum standards for all workers, local and foreign.

Touching on ongoing negotiations over the cost-of-living allowance (CoLA), she said a new agreement must be reached by June. She also criticised government proposals on tax reform as “inadequate” and warned that the current impasse on the Cyprus problem, combined with nationalistic rhetoric, was entrenching division and pushing the country closer to permanent partition.

In Paphos, Peo district secretary Nikos Savvides also raised the issue of rising costs and the housing crisis. He called for stronger state-backed housing policies, particularly for young people, and condemned the 12 per cent pension cut applied to those who choose to retire at 63.

“The government must support society and families,” he said. “Today’s low wages and soaring prices make home ownership nearly impossible.”

Savvides also stressed the broader context of the workers’ struggle, linking it to calls for peace and solidarity with global movements.

He criticised international powers and the Cypriot government for failing to act on the Israel-Palestine conflict and noted the ongoing suffering in Ukraine.

For Cypriot workers, he said, the fight for international law and peace was inseparable from the fight for a reunified homeland.

In Larnaca, Peo district secretary Giorgos Ioulianos echoed those sentiments, calling for an end to wars and a fairer global economic order. Speaking at a beachfront event on the Finikoudes promenade, he underlined the symbolic weight of May Day, 139 years after the landmark labour protest in Chicago.

“We dream of a Cyprus of peace and social justice, a common homeland for Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Armenians, Maronites and Latins,” he said.

Ioulianos urged the government to clarify its intentions regarding the future of CoLA, and warned that linking it to productivity and competitiveness – as employers demand – would undermine the entire system.

He also accused the government of inaction over the cost-of-living crisis and said stronger, long-term support was needed for pensioners and vulnerable groups.