For the Cost of Living Adjustment, for Dignity in
Our Lives, and for All the Reasons in the World!
Thursday 11/9, 11:00 – 14:00
Strike protest 12:00, Ministry of Finance, Nicosia
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On Thursday 11/9, wobblies in Cyprus joined the thousands of striking workers protesting in Nicosia, for the Cost of Living Adjustment. Strike protests with hundreds of strikers were organised in every city of south Cyprus, with IWW members participating in those in Limassol, Larnaca and Paralimni as well.
The Cost of Living Adjustment (CoLA) is an annual wage adjustment based on inflation to ensure that as prices rise, workers’ wages also increase. About half of workers in Cyprus (public sector and where collective agreements exist) receive this “breather”, which was hard-won in the 1940s.
CoLA is now attributed to 66.7% of inflation (100% until the crisis years of 2013-2018 during which it was frozen, 50% between 2017 – 2022). Despite what was agreed in 2017, bosses and the government sought its abolition in 2022, but the first general strike in the country’s history ultimately led to an increase in the rate! The 2022 agreement included the obligation to restore CoLA to its original philosophy by June this year. But as employers and the government are still unwilling to honour the agreement, the majority of trade unions organised another general strike, aiming to increase the CoLA to 100%, include it in the minimum wage, and convert multi-employer agreements into legally binding regular sectoral agreements. This could increase the number of workers receiving CoLA from almost 50% to 80-90% of the workforce!
Struggles, including strikes, obviously have their risks, but it is only with struggles that we have won and that we will protect our minimal workers’ rights! From the 30s and 40s until today, nothing has been gifted to us and nothing will be gifted to us!
