Continuing the effort to break the deadlock over the cost-of-living allowance (CoLA), Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou will be holding separate meetings on Friday with the employers’ organisations and the trade unions.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, the first meeting will be with OEV and Keve at 10am.

Separate meetings on Thursday of the trade unions and employers’ organisations with the ministers of labour and finance on the CoLA dispute failed to break the deadlock.

The labour ministry issued a statement saying efforts for a deal on CoLA “are ongoing” and that more meetings would take place on Friday, following Thursday’s talks, which it described as “useful and productive”.

Earlier on Thursday, President Nikos Christodoulides said “the framework that has been set by the two ministers, one we had discussed with both ministers taking into account the positions of both sides, constitutes a very good foundation, a very good basis to reach an agreement the soonest possible.”

“Our partners, both on the side of the employers and the trade unions, have proved their responsibility in Cyprus and I believe that today the dialogue can lead to positive results,” he added.

Unions from the private and public sectors staged a three-hour strike on September 11 calling for employers to return to the full payment of CoLA, a position the employers have downright dismissed.

Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou has proposed CoLA for all on a sliding scale according to salary.