The Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance is advancing three key measures in the field of employment relations, according to Labour Minister Marinos Mousiouttas.
A bill on pay transparency is expected to be submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval in September, while legislation on adequate minimum wages is due to be submitted to the House of Representatives before the end of the year.
At the same time, an Action Plan aimed at strengthening collective bargaining is expected to be completed by November 2026.
Pay transparency bill moves towards Cabinet
In a written response to a parliamentary question from Famagusta MP Giorgos Koukoumas, Mr Mousiouttas said legislation to align Cyprus with EU Directive 2023/970 on equal pay and pay transparency is expected to be submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval during September.
It will subsequently be submitted to the House of Representatives for approval, he said.
The bill has already been discussed by the Tripartite Technical Committee, with the participation of employers' organisations OEB and CCCI and trade unions SEK, PEO and DEOK.
A public consultation on the legislation was held from 4 November to 5 December 2025. Following discussions at the Labour Advisory Board, the draft was forwarded to the Law Office for legal and technical review.
Under the draft legislation, the first deadline for employers to submit information on the gender pay gap is 6 June 2027.
The Ministry has also been developing infrastructure to support pay transparency. This includes the €52,117.32 eValueJobs project, which was completed in June 2026, and a €1.1 million project titled “Support Measures for Pay Transparency”.
The latter is due to be implemented by December 2027 and will include, among other measures, an information system allowing employers to submit data on the gender pay gap.
Minimum wage bill undergoing legal review
In a separate response to a parliamentary question from Limassol MP Dimitris Souglis, Mr Mousiouttas said legislation to align Cyprus with EU Directive 2022/2041 on adequate minimum wages is currently undergoing a new legal and technical review by the Law Office of the Republic.
Once the review is completed, the bill will be submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval and then to Parliament before the end of 2026, provided the legal review is completed in time.
The Minister said the delay in aligning national legislation with the directive had taken into account, among other factors, pending legal proceedings before the Court of Justice of the European Union following a challenge by Denmark to the directive's legal basis.
He described the Court's ruling as an important development for advancing the harmonisation process.
Mr Mousiouttas also pointed out that Cyprus is already implementing provisions under the Minimum Wage Law of 2022 and the relevant decree. These measures, he said, constitute an important form of worker protection and form part of the wider policy framework for promoting adequate minimum wages.
Action plan aims to expand collective bargaining
Around 40% of employees in Cyprus are covered by collective agreements, including workers in the private and broader public sectors, according to the Minister.
He said the estimate was based on records of trade union membership held by the Registrar of Trade Unions.
Cyprus' employment relations system is based on free collective bargaining and tripartite cooperation. However, Mr Mousiouttas noted that there is no specific legislation making all sectoral collective agreements universally binding on every employer within a particular sector.
Collective agreements are currently in place in sectors including hotels, construction, furniture-making and carpentry, vehicle importers' workshops and the mosaic industry, among others.
Company-level collective agreements also exist in banks, ports, fleet management companies, manufacturing and services businesses, as well as organisations in the broader public sector.
According to the Minister, collective agreements do not have direct legal force. Any breaches are addressed under the Code of Industrial Relations rather than through the Industrial Disputes Court.
The Ministry is meanwhile in dialogue with the social partners on an Action Plan aimed at increasing collective bargaining coverage within Cyprus' voluntary employment relations system.
The plan is expected to be completed by November 2026 and will subsequently be sent to the European Commission as part of Cyprus' obligations under EU Directive 2022/2041.
Source: CNA
