By Con Charalambous
Labour minister Yiannis Panayiotou claimed that CoLA is now firmly secure for the long term after an agreement in principle was signed yesterday at the Presidential Palace between employers and unions, following months of deliberations, tensions, conflicts and near misses.
'We will have CoLA forever', Panayiotou said in an interview to public service radio's morning current affairs programme, noting that stability returns following 15 years of volatility.
The significance of the deal lies in the fact that the CoLA system can no longer be questioned as an institution, as he noted, emphasising the fact that there's going to be a major increase of private sector employees benefiting from the deal.
That number has gone up by 55 thousand, as prescribed in the terms of the deal and underlined by President Christodoulides yesterday, following the signatures.
'The government's goal', Panayiotou added, 'is to achieve wage adequacy by the end of its term in 2028, a wage rise that will make a difference in the daily lives of citizens'.
The CoLA percentage will now be 80%, gradually rising to 100% next year.
Unions welcomed the deal, but SEK General Secretary Andreas Matsas did say that the 'invisible hand', will always be there to remind us of the dangers.