The Labor Relations Department of of the Ministry of Labour, the employers' side and the workers of Wolt, in the presence of the workers' unions, while the distributors are in the ninth day of their strike, protesting their working conditions and low wages, which are cut by 40% from the intermediaries who employ them.
This resulted from a request submitted to the Director of the Department, Antis Apostolou, by the strikers and the unions, in order to find a solution to the problems faced by the distributors. The meeting, which all parties involved are invited to attend, is set for tomorrow, Wednesday, at 9:30 am. For this purpose, the strikers elected a committee to represent them. To confirm the meeting, a positive response from the employer side is expected within the day.
The distributors, with the support of PEO, marched on Tuesday morning to the offices of the Department of Labor Relations in Nicosia, where they had a meeting with the director of the Department, Andis Apostolou. On their march, the striking distributors repeated their demand for justice, shouting the slogan “we want justice”. Several passers-by who were crossing Griva Digeni in Nicosia at that time expressed their support with car horns.
During the meeting with Mr. Apostolou, strikers and PEO submitted a written request for mediation by the service to resolve the problems and reach an agreement on a collective agreement in the sector. “We call upon you to expedite the process and immediately call both us and the other parties in mediation, company and agents, for the conclusion of a Collective Agreement,” the request states, adding that “with each passing day, workers are under threats and various pressures from their employers, to return to work”.
It is noted that the distributors are today on the ninth day of strike in Nicosia. Last week, strike actions were also carried out by Wolt distributors in Limassol, Larnaca and Paphos, although yesterday the strike ended in Larnaca, while the actions in the other two provinces seem to be moving in the same direction, under various pressures that exist the workers.
After the meeting with the Director of the Labor Relations Department, one of the representatives of the strikers who participated in the meeting, expressed his satisfaction with Mr. Apostolos' intention to invite the employers' side to a meeting. “We want the legislation to apply to us as well,” he told the KYPE, answering what their requests would be, while noting that they would also request information from the services of the Ministry of Labor, regarding exactly what their rights are, according to the legislation.
On the part of the SEC, Panikos Argyridis stated in his statements to KYPE that, in addition to the consultation with the employer side, during the meeting at the Department of Labor Relations they will request an acceleration of the process for the legislative regulation of workers on distribution platforms, according to proposed European directive, which applies from December 2021 and protects workers from exploitative elements, ensuring transparency in the operating procedures of companies with distribution platforms.
“We expect that through the dialogue, we will be able, with the resumption of the Parliament after the elections, to find ways to regulate the employment conditions of the workers in general on the platforms, which are several thousand”, added Mr. Argyridis, underlining that for the SEC it is imperative to legislate work on platforms, as it is a new form of employment, which is not covered by existing legislation and the new directive recognizes that the employers are the platforms themselves, as he said.
Asked about the form of employment that should be established, Mr. Argyridis told the KYPE that intermediaries should not be allowed, as exploitation phenomena are often found there. “When the platforms were launched, their philosophy did not envisage intermediaries,” he said, explaining that “intermediaries arose because of the need to grant a special employment permit, as the majority of their workers come from third countries”.
Mr. Argyridis noted that a positive response from the employer side is expected for holding the meeting at the Labor Inspection Department on Wednesday morning, which, even if it does not take place tomorrow, will be postponed to the day after tomorrow, as, as he explained, when there is violation of the code, the Ministry's services have the necessary procedures to ensure the presence of employers (both the company and the intermediaries).
During the meeting there will be an official briefing on the results of the of an investigation by the Department of Labor Inspection, which last week interviewed the strikers to determine whether there were any violations, he said and finally Mr. Argyridis, noting that, since the preliminary information received by the guilds, a percentage of the legislation has been violated and a percentage of illegal employment has been identified.
