News
Minister calls talks on foreign worker permits after union complaints
Unions say hotel and construction employers are breaching collective agreements. Employers say staff shortages are real and that any evidence should go to the authorities.
Labour Minister Marinos Moushouttas has called the social partners to a meeting on 17 November to revisit the policy on employing workers from outside the EU, after trade unions complained that some employers are breaking the rules.
The meeting will be held outside the framework of the Labour Advisory Board, the report says. It follows protests by unions that some employers are breaching the strategy for employing third-country workers.
What the unions say
The unions say the problem has grown mainly in hotels and construction. They say provisions of collective agreements are being breached, and that businesses which follow the rules face unfair competition from competitors cutting costs.
Andreas Matsas, general secretary of the Cyprus Workers’ Confederation (SEK), wrote in an article entitled “Strategy for deregulating the labour market” that the third-country worker strategy had been revised unilaterally and had dangerously deregulated the labour market. In many construction cases the data pointed to a tragic situation, he wrote, and in several hotel cases “conditions resembling a ‘slave market’ are recorded”.
Matsas told the report that SEK would set out its positions again at the 17 November meeting. The union wants the technical committees that assess data and employers’ needs to be reinstated. It also wants a political decision making public contracts conditional on the application of collective agreements.
That position builds on a joint statement by SEK, PEO and DEOK on 2 November, which warned of industrial action over the renewal of permits for contractors and subcontractors accused of violating collective agreements and labour law. The unions said permits “cannot be approved indiscriminately and without meaningful checks”.
The employers’ side
Employers say the difficulty of finding staff remains huge, making it necessary to employ foreign workers. If there is evidence of violations, they say, it should be submitted to the competent authorities and examined.
What changed in 2025
In early 2025 the Cabinet approved a framework for the employment of foreign workers. The unions objected at the time, saying it met employers’ key demands. The changes they criticised included allowing workers to be moved between premises of the same employer within a district, and raising the maximum deduction from a worker’s gross basic pay for housing from 10 per cent to 25 per cent.
What is not known
The reports do not say what the minister intends to propose, whether the 2025 framework will be reopened, how many workers or employers are involved, or whether any of the alleged breaches have been established by inspectors or a court. No outcome has been announced.
Why it matters
The permits determine how many staff hotels and construction firms can hire. The dispute turns on whether they are being used by employers that do not follow agreed pay and conditions, and whether the state checks that before renewing them.
Sources (2)
- Philenews, Minister calls talks on foreign workers as unions allege abuses, 6 November 2026 . Reports the 17 November meeting, the unions' complaints, the employers' response and the 2025 framework.
- Cyprus Mail, Construction unions threaten action over permits for foreign workers, 2 November 2026 . Joint statement by SEK, PEO and DEOK on permit renewals and alleged labour violations.