Statement on the session of the General Council of the
Pancyprian Federation of Labour (PEO)
27 March 2026
On the 26 March, the General Council of PEO convened to review the results of the organizational drive for membership recruitment and the annual fund-raising campaign for 2025 and to approve the organizational plan and annual fund-raising campaign for 2026.
The overall assessment for 2025 is considered positive, as all the PEO-affiliated trade unions achieved better results compared to the previous year.
In 2025, 7,258 new members joined the ranks of PEO. At the same time, 186 new trade union branches in businesses/work places were organized in 2025, far exceeding the target set for the year.
The growth recorded in PEO’s membership confirms that working people trust PEO more and more because they see that within its ranks they can improve their wages and benefits, and fight for and achieve a better life. These positive results recorded also demonstrate the potential for further organizational growth by organizing workplaces with no trade unions, as well as unorganized workers with an organized trade union presence at workplaces.
The General Council of PEO also discussed recent developments regarding the US-Israeli attack on Iran and expresses its concern about the consequences of the war for the peoples of the region. Inevitably, the war has a ripple effect on workers in Cyprus as well. Workers, pensioners on low pensions and vulnerable groups of the population—who are already suffering from expensiveness and the rising cost of living—cannot continue to bear the cost of ongoing wars and crises. PEO had long ago highlighted the need for measures to be taken that should address the new wave of high prices/expensiveness affecting the popular strata, as well as the implementation of measures to support employment in the sectors directly impacted.
The measures announced by the government are barely sufficient. We believe that both their duration and scope should have been greater.
In addition to what has been announced by the government, we believe it is necessary for the government to at long last proceed with a radical improvement in the benefits policy for families with children. Improving the income criteria and the amounts for child, single-parent, and student benefits, with an emphasis on low- and middle-income households, will help boost households’ available income. It is also necessary to increase the minimum guaranteed income and revise the criteria for the Easter allowance for low-income pensioners. These groups were hit hard by the previous cost-of-living crisis and are now suffering even more.
We also reiterate our proposal for the automatic inclusion of eligible recipients in the special low-electricity rate program.
It is also imperative that inspections are intensified to prevent profiteering, that prices are monitored and that the price cap mechanism is utilized if necessary.
Supporting employment in the hotel industry by subsidising wages is a step in the right direction. The subsidy must be provided with the aim of reopening hotel units, on the condition that no worker is laid off and that everyone returns to their jobs.
PEO will continue to monitor the situation and intervene with proposals for measures to support the working class.
In this difficult period for working people, with the standard of living of working people and the vulnerable groups of the population facing new pressures and with economic inequalities growing, the need to intensify the struggle for the following is demanded:
- The defence, implementation, and expansion of Collective Bargaining Agreements to cover more working people. The government must immediately submit the bill on Adequate and Dignified Wages, which must include a provision making the minimum hiring standards of the Collective Labour Agreements mandatory for the sectors they cover.
- Ensuring dignified wages and wage increases upon the renewal of collective bargaining agreements that reflect the cost of living and narrow the gap in wages.
- A substantial increase in the minimum wage with an emphasis on hourly basis wages.
- Comprehensive pension reform that ensures dignified income for all pensioners, a specific framework for expanding the Provident Funds system to all workers, a fair and comprehensive resolution of the 12% penalty for current and future pensioners, and the settlement of the state’s debt to the Social Insurance Fund.
The upcoming parliamentary elections were also discussed at the session of the General Council of PEO. The composition of a given Parliament directly affects workers, as it debates and legislates on important issues that affect workers, pensioners, the vulnerable groups of the population and society in general.
In today’s conditions, where working people face constant pressure and attacks from capital and powerful interests, it is clear that the political party that consistently and vigorously defends the interests of working people and society is AKEL. We have seen this clearly play out on critical issues such as the taxation of windfall profits and tax reform.
We need allies and supporters in our struggles. AKEL has proven in practice that it stands by us in all the struggles we are waging. In the struggles for the Automatic Cost of Living Allowance, for the abolition of the unfair 12% penalty on pensions, for a dignified minimum wage and its payment on an hourly basis, for the taxation of wealth and the banks’ super- profits, for the protection of primary family homes and business premises, and for the improvement of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
In the choice between the interests of working people and the many, or the interests of capital and the privileged few, AKEL has always stood with the working people.
A vote for AKEL—Left -Social Alliance is a vote to support, defend, and advance our own interests.
