Unions representing Cyprus’s hourly-paid government staff have suspended a 24-hour strike that had been planned for Thursday, after a meeting on Wednesday with President Nikos Christodoulides, held in the presence of the Finance Minister, produced what unions described as a positive response to their demands.
The strike, which unions had warned could escalate to 48 hours without progress, was expected to involve around 11,000 workers across ministries, school boards, the State Health Services Organisation and essential services including the Fire Service, Civil Defence and Public Works.
It followed a previous 24-hour strike at the end of June and months of stalled talks with the Finance Ministry over renewing the workers’ collective agreement, with unions seeking wage increases of 2% for 2025, 3% for 2026 and 3% for 2027, along with restoration of reduced recruitment points and a Provident Fund improvement. Finance Minister Makis Keravnos had previously said the unions’ demands exceeded €50 million and could not be met.
Government Spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said in a post on X that Wednesday’s meeting produced a positive response to all the demands raised by the OEKDY-SEK, PASYEK-PEO and DEE-KDOKO-DEOK unions.
According to Letymbiotis, the two sides agreed to hold a further dedicated meeting with the President on September 28, 2026, at 11:00am, to address issues concerning hourly-paid government staff, with pay improvements for the workers among the topics on the agenda.
Following this development, the unions decided to suspend the measures they had announced, in order to allow time for dialogue and let the process move towards final decisions.
