Our government is the one that restored COLA and the government of those who today were shouting against us, is the one that ended it, President Anastasiades said on Thursday, invited to comment on a nation-wide strike over COLA that paralyzed Cyprus for three hours.
He said that there must be some sense when he was asked about the complaints by the unionists that the government has a responsibility for the collapse of the talks.
He wondered why a government which restored the allowance in 2017 is held responsible and not the one which terminated it.
The President said that COLA is a workers’ right but both sides, unions and employers, must come to a decision and in the talks that preceded, there was a gap between the two sides and therefore the efforts did not yield results. Employers disagree and therefore further dialogue is needed, he added.
He also said that he cannot take lessons from those who ought to apologize to the employees.
Source: Cyprus News Agency