Strong reactions are expressed by employers’ organizations and professional associations on the occasion of the report of the General Director of the Ministry of Labor (South) Andreas Zachariadis before the Parliamentary Labor Committee, that a legal gap has been established regarding the opening hours of the shops.
The Pancypriot Retail Trade Association (PASILE) states that “the opening hours of the Stores by decision of the Supreme Court in 2015 falls exclusively within the sphere of the executive power and is regulated through a Decree of the Minister of Labour.”
The Federation of Employers and Industrialists (OEB) points out that “shop opening hours do not only concern shop owners” and emphasizes that:
“This contribution of the Retail Trade to the collective progress and development, no one has the right to cancel it with experiments that lead to the weakening of this important sector of the Cypriot economy.”
Yesterday, the Minister of Labor(South) Yannis Panagiotou before the Parliamentary Finance Committee during the discussion of the budget of the Ministry of Labor for 2024, said that the Government is not in favor of changing the opening hours of the shops. Mr. Panagiotou had pointed out that the specific issue had also been discussed last July, when the Minister of Labor had a meeting with POVEK. At the time, he had stated that the opening hours of the stores affect the economy, society, businesses, employers and employees.
In his statements after the end of the session, the President of the Committee and AKEL’s MP, Andros Kafkalias, said that the Government must address the issue of regulating the opening hours of the shops. Recalling that the Minister of Labor stated yesterday that there is no intention on the part of the Government to discuss a change in the opening hours of the shops, with the logic that it is now a normality, Mr. Kafkalias stated that the position of the Ministry of Labor was similar during today’s session. He added that the Government has an obligation to weigh in on the issue, mainly for the social, labor and economic dimensions that arise.
Source: Alpha News
