Cyprus’s major trade unions have welcomed the launch of the island’s first all-island labour market database as a step toward economic integration and eventual reunification of the divided island.
Leaders from unions representing both Greek and Turkish Cypriot workers told an event at Nicosia’s Ledra Palace Hotel on Wednesday that the new Labour Market Guide would help create conditions for a unified labour market in a future settlement.
The trilingual digital platform, developed by the Cyprus Dialogue Forum’s Labour Market Task Group and funded by the European Union, compiles comprehensive employment and economic data from both communities in Greek, Turkish and English.
Andreas Matsas, Secretary General of the Cyprus Workers Confederation (SEK), praised the initiative as providing essential information for future negotiations.
“Through this guide, we have a clear picture that allows access to reliable information, objective comparison in the two labour markets and provides food for thought for discussions and formal negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations,” Matsas said.
He highlighted successful cooperation between SEK and the Turkish Cypriot union TÜRK-SEN in filling vacancies for Turkish Cypriot workers in the hotel industry, noting that “both employees and businesses can operate effectively and without any element of discrimination or differential treatment.”
Trade union leaders emphasised that worker solidarity across communities has historical precedent on the island.
“The history of the joint class struggles of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot workers is a shining example of the role and effectiveness of the unity of the working class in Cyprus,” said Sotiroula Charalambous, General Secretary of the Pancyprian Labour Federation (PEO).
TÜRK-SEN President Arslan Bıçaklı said his organisation prioritises “equal pay for equal work” and ensuring all workers enjoy “the same opportunities in the labour market without any discrimination based on religion, language and race.”
The union leaders stressed that any future Cyprus settlement must address labour market integration with shared standards.
“A single system of labour relations, a single system of social security, freedom to choose to work in any part of Cyprus,” said PEO’s Charalambous, outlining key principles that unions across communities have agreed upon.
The Revolutionary Trade Unions Federation (DEV-İŞ) emphasised the importance of community-level connections beyond political negotiations.
“A solution can be found on the table, signatures can be put, but it is the communities themselves that will bring real peace. And social and economic relations come at the forefront as an indispensable element of this,” a DEV-İŞ representative said.
The Labour Market Guide launch comes ahead of planned meetings between Cypriot leaders and the UN Secretary General in Geneva to explore resuming settlement talks.
The database is accessible online in Greek, Turkish and English through the Cyprus Dialogue Forum website.
To access the Labour Market Guide
For English: https://libguides.cydialogue.org/labour
For Greek: https://libguides.cydialogue.org/ergasia
For Turkish: https://libguides.cydialogue.org/isgucu
