Trade unions will “escalate measures” if their planned meeting over the cost-of-living allowance (CoLA) with Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou yields no results, Sek secretary-general Andreas Matsas said on Wednesday.

The trade unions will have a meeting with Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou on Friday.

Matsas, accompanied by Peo general secretary Sotiroula Charalambous, Deok president Stelios Christodoulou and Pasydy secretary general Stratis Mattheou, stated after the meeting that they had received an invitation and would attend next Friday’s meeting “with a positive stance”.

“Depending on the positions or the approach that will be analysed for us, we have made a decision and are authorised to activate previous decisions to scale up measures should this be deemed appropriate.”

Matsas said that the trade unions, “evaluating the data that emerged after the general strike and the terms of reference that we have received from the workers, who have gone on strike, we reaffirm our position and stance with regard to the need for full restoration of the institution of CoLA, in the context of the positions and suggestions that have been put before the labour minister.”

He added that unions will “give the opportunity” to Panayiotou on Friday to “clarify and specify the government’s approaches”, to “evaluate the possibility which may be given to restore CoLA, but beyond that, it is clear that we will not accept any erosion of it”.

“We call on the ministry and the employer side to engage in a process, which will be within the framework of the transitional agreement, so that the institution of CoLA is fully restored, while creating conditions and conditions, utilising the suggestions of the trade union movement so that the institution can expand and cover all employees both through the application of CoLA to the minimum wage and through the extension of collective agreements, ensuring that collective agreements, especially sectoral agreements, are fully implemented, they concern all employees,” Matsas said.

At the same time, he continued, “tax incentives must and can be provided in the framework of tax reform, to expand the institution of collective agreements, adopting of course and extending the policy ‘no public contract without a collective agreement’.”

“We will go to the meeting next Friday with the labour minister, having received an invitation with a positive stance, but with absolute adherence to the principled positions that we have repeatedly put before the minister and the employers and depending on the positions or the approach that will be analysed, we have taken a decision and are authorised to activate previous decisions for the escalation of measures if this is deemed appropriate,” Matsas added.

“The message received from the strikers was clear and the collective position of the trade unions today was also clear that, if necessary, we will escalate the measures,” he said.

Moeover, Matsas said that they will give the opportunity at Friday’s meeting “to clarify and make concrete the government’s approaches, to evaluate the possibility that may be given for the restoration of the institution of CoLA, but beyond that, it is clear that we will not accept any discounts.”

Asked if they are not given in writing what they have described as a “communication firework”, the new proposal of the labour ministry will mean immediate strike measures, Charalambous said that the labour minister “knows very well our positions that are fully compatible with CoLA in her philosophy”. He is also well aware of our positions on what it means for us to implement what they have announced as a policy position, ‘CoLA for all’.”

What they expect on Friday, he added, “is precisely on these positions, because we will not start talking from scratch. If and as long as there is the will of the government on these positions to find a solution, a solution can be found that maintains CoLA in its philosophy, as we are all jointly bound by the transitional agreement” and at the same time in the parameters that Matsas has mentioned, “to proceed to the expansion of the number of employees covered by CoLA which is a basic goal of ours.”

“If the situation continues to remain as it is today, then we have no choice but to activate our decisions,” he said.

Charalambous said “what is essential is that there are no seats at the table either from the government or from employers, which in essence deconstruct the institution of automatic indexation.”

A three-hour general strike two weeks ago saw the island brought to a standstill, with workers demanding that CoLA be restored in its full, original form, stressing that the allowance preserves workers’ purchasing power, supports living standards and consumption, and helps enforce collective agreements.

Public services and public transport were the most affected, with more than 50 flights and 15,000 airline passengers impacted by the strike, while trade unionists across the island took to the streets.

Charalambous had last week said the strike would be “the first step in a series of measures, until we achieve the goal, which is collective and universal”.