On Monday afternoon, employees of the Support Programs of the Ministry of Education, Sports, and Youth, with representatives from PASEU-PEO and OEKDY-SEK rejecting in their statements the view that the mobilization is excessive, emphasizing the difficult situation workers have been facing for the past five months and the need to find a solution that ensures a decent standard of living for them.
The protests will culminate on Thursday, November 5, 2026, at 3:00 p.m., with a large pan-Cypriot rally outside the Ministry of Finance and a protest march to the Presidential Palace.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
According to a statement by the PASEY–PEO and OEKDY–SEK unions, employees of the Support Programs of the Ministry of Education, Sports, and Youth have gone on an indefinite strike starting today, “following months of efforts, consultations, and repeated interventions by the unions, without any substantive solutions being provided to the serious problems they face.”
The workers are demanding the immediate implementation of the government’s commitments and the resolution of two key outstanding issues: Guaranteeing an income during the summer months for permanent employees who remain without a salary and without access to unemployment benefits, and the immediate hiring of their colleagues who, despite their many years of service in these programs, remain unemployed.
The unions call on the government to finally assume its responsibilities and provide concrete and meaningful solutions.
“It is unacceptable for workers to go months without an income, nor for their colleagues with many years of service to be driven into unemployment. The responsibility for the continuation and escalation of the strike lies with the government, which has an obligation to immediately resolve the outstanding issues,” the statement adds.
They also call for the understanding and solidarity of those enrolled in the support programs, “because this is a shared struggle to improve the Support Programs, for the benefit of society and our people,” as stated in the announcement.
The Secretary-General of OEKDY SEK, George Konstantinou, speaking at a rally of employees of the Ministry of Education’s support programs in Nicosia, said that employees of the Ministry of Education, Sports, and Youth have gone on an indefinite strike starting today, protesting the government’s unacceptable stance of leaving them without any income since last May.
“It has now been five months since these workers have had any income, and they have taken to the streets to raise awareness among government officials and urge them to find a solution to this very serious issue, so that they can survive with dignity,” he said.
Unfortunately, he added, “We, as labor unions, had raised this entire issue last April when the law regulating the employment of workers in these programs was passed. Since then, we have been asking that workers be able to access unemployment benefits, as they have been able to do in recent years, starting in 2023.”
He noted that for the previous 10 years, from 2013 to 2023, workers were subject to the unacceptable and illegal “services market” regime, which denied them any employment benefits and deprived them of unemployment benefits—which they needed to survive during periods when the programs were not operating, namely during the summer months.
“Although this had been a long-standing demand, the government ensured that this benefit was eliminated, and we had requested that, since their employment was not considered to have been interrupted, since they had been classified as permanent employees, that the state continue to pay them just as it pays the rest of the education workers, so that they would have an income and be able to provide for themselves and their families. Unfortunately, no decision has been made in this regard to date,” he added.
He also said that although they had held meetings with all government agencies, they had held a final meeting on July 29, and had been told at that meeting that a policy decision needed to be made to resolve the issue.
“We had also been in contact with both ministers involved in the discussion at the time—the Minister of Education and the Minister of Labor. They had promised us that, yes, they would ensure that a solution to the entire issue would be found. Today is November 2, and still no regulation has been implemented that would allow these workers to have an income throughout this entire extended period,” he added.
When asked to comment on a statement by the Minister of Education—who described these protests as excessive, given that the Ministry of Finance is also discussing this issue— Mr. Konstantinou asked: “Is it excessive—and we ask the Minister—for workers to demand an income that allows them to survive?”
“I don’t know of any citizen of the Republic who would consider it excessive for any worker to have an income that allows them to live with dignity. Consider the case of these specific workers, who have been without any income for five months now. How should I describe this? There are simply no words to describe such a statement, because it is devoid of any human element or compassion, and it is a shame that the Minister made such a statement,” he noted.
The District Secretary of PASEV PEO Nicosia, Pambos Anastasiou, said in his remarks that they hope and pray the President will take this to heart, even though the last time they met with him, he promised to resolve the issue.
“We hope he will intervene in a timely manner so that these people can bring home an income. People are truly on the brink of destitution. And yet they are still here, they are with us, they stand by us, and they will stand by us for as long as this struggle lasts. “We urge the President of the Republic to fulfill in a timely manner what he promised us last month,” he added.
Responding to a question, Mr. Anastasiou said that whatever these people have achieved today, they have earned over the past 12 years through struggles in the streets and in the courtrooms.
“Nothing has been handed to them on a silver platter. Absolutely nothing. The abolition of the outsourcing of services came about not because it was graciously granted by the Minister and the government, but because they were vindicated in the courtrooms, and it was unthinkable that the state, as an employer, would fail to comply with court rulings,” he noted.
“Let’s be clear: this bill, which was passed in April, explicitly states and that at this moment the state is acting improperly and unlawfully, that all programs are staffed exclusively by teachers from programs that have already existed for years in these afternoon programs,” he added.
As Mr. Anastasiou said, “We currently have approximately 130 colleagues who have been out of work for the past 5–6 months, and instead of taking all the necessary steps—which we, as unions, have been warning about since April—to issue job postings and staff the programs in a timely manner, right now they’re operating with people—and we have nothing against our colleagues, the morning shift teachers, who are working overtime to cover these classes—while we have people who are unemployed.”
“So, right now the government is acting improperly because the bill clearly and explicitly states who is supposed to staff these positions and what their roles are,” he reiterated.
He also added, “We, precisely because we knew that teachers on indefinite contracts do not receive unemployment benefits, but are paid during the summer months because their contracts are annual, we offered them two solutions: either to give them annual contracts so they could be paid normally, or to provide them with an allowance,—precisely because they cannot provide unemployment benefits—in an amount equal to unemployment benefits, so that these people can survive.”
These people, Mr. Anastasiou continued, have loans and obligations that keep piling up.
“No figures, no response from the government indicating that, despite their good intentions, they won’t pay these off. The banks don’t understand. Is that what we want? For them to take our homes in the end? No. Twelve years on the streets—we achieved what no one expected. And precisely because we were right and were vindicated in court—and this time we’re right, and this time we’ll be vindicated—no matter how much they say they have good intentions,” he added.
The minister, Mr. Anastasiou said, noted that they were in a hurry to take action today.
“When you give them two weeks’ notice to find solutions—which we’ve done before, as far back as May—we give them three weeks, they call us to a meeting and tell us, ‘Guys, give us a few days, etc., we’ll announce it in 24 hours,” and yet another 10 days have passed,” he added.
In other words, he continued, “to put it simply, a month has passed since he told us we were rushing things. What’s happened? Nothing—and nothing will happen unless they show real willingness.”
“So, we’re making it clear to them that these people are used to hardship, and yes, because we’re in the right, this struggle will be won once again. That is the message we want to convey,” he concluded.
Source: KYPE
