A crucial meeting between Cyprus’s main employer organisations is taking place today in Nicosia, as the debate over ATA Cyprus (cost of living allowance) intensifies.
The joint meeting of the executive committees of OEB and KEVE is expected to reject once again the government’s proposal for a universal ATA and to set out the employers’ red lines for the continuation of social dialogue.
The session begins at 3pm at the Hilton Hotel in Nicosia. It will review the government’s framework for modernising the ATA system, presented recently by Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou, with particular focus on the pillar calling for universal application. Employers have already dismissed this proposal, armed with a legal opinion by Achilleas Emilianides which argues that imposing ATA by law on the private sector would be unconstitutional.
Employer groups have long opposed the cost of living allowance, considering it outdated. Their initial position was to abolish it entirely, before compromising on changes under a new permanent agreement.
Speaking on Sigma’s “Mesi Meri kai Kati” on Monday, KEVE’s director general Phileleftheros Rousounides reiterated his opposition to universal ATA, noting it had never been part of the dialogue. “For us, such a matter does not arise,” he said, adding that employers’ legal opinion and even the unions’ recent actions confirm this.
Today’s meeting – the first of its kind in more than three decades – is seen as a signal of the importance employers attach to the ATA Cyprus issue. It is expected to set out how the business community will proceed, while reaffirming commitment to social dialogue as the framework for resolving labour disputes.
The government’s framework includes four pillars: universal ATA coverage, fairer distribution with emphasis on low and middle incomes, activation conditions to avoid slowing growth, and safeguards against inflation. The Labour Minister has requested to explain this framework at today’s meeting, but has yet to receive a response. Both the government and unions now await the outcome of the employers’ deliberations.
Also read: ATA law for private sector deemed unconstitutional
For more videos and updates, check out our YouTube channel
