Cyprus public-sector hourly-paid workers announce 24-hour strike for 17 September

About 11,700 hourly-paid workers in Cyprus’s public sector will hold a 24-hour strike on 17 September. The action was announced by three trade unions — OEKDY SEK, PASYEK PEO and DEEKDOKO DEOK — after talks with the Ministry of Finance finally reached an impasse.

The strike will affect 7,500 people in public services, 1,700 employees of the General Hospital and 2,500 school committee workers. Public hospitals, the Blood Bank, the Department of Forestry and the Fire Service will be left without staff: no emergency cover has been provided for the day of the strike.

The trade unions are demanding an update to the collective agreement — an application for which was submitted back in 2025 — and a total 8% pay increase over three years: 2% for 2025, 3% for 2026 and 3% for 2027. According to their calculations, this would cost the state less than €17 million.

Hourly-paid workers are one of the lowest-paid categories in Cyprus’s public sector: the starting salary is €980 a month. PASYEK PEO Secretary-General Stavros Andreou noted that a cleaner takes home barely €850.

The Ministry of Finance rejected the pay-related part of the demands and offered only additional benefits, after which talks reached an impasse on 17 July. A meeting on the eve of the strike changed nothing: “There is no willingness on the employer’s side to engage in meaningful dialogue,” Andreou said.

“This strike is only the beginning,” warned OEKDY SEK Secretary-General Giorgos Constantinou. According to him, the government bears full responsibility for how events unfold.