.
No matter who resigns over the serial-killings debacle, the writing is clearly on the wall – attitudes must change, not only towards Asian and African workers (not “migrants” by the way) legitimately employed in Cyprus, but also towards ordinary people who have been abandoned by politicians, simply because their votes don’t matter.
Who else would sweep our streets, collect our rubbish and clean up after every 90-year-old grandparent with incontinence problems? And all this for a measly 350 euros a month.
Instead of moaning about giving over-privileged civil servants, teachers and bank employees pay hikes – simply because these were promised to them in electoral campaigns and not because they deserve such raises based on efficiency and productivity – how about raising the minimum wage for all workers in Cyprus?
Trade unions only look after their own, but when it comes to defending the rights of foreign labour, even from other EU member states, these people get dirty looks and the comments they hear are condescending as if Cypriot employers are of a supreme race, planted on this planet by the Almighty.
We often hear grumblings in the hotel sector, that there are “too many foreigners”, while natives feel too proud to become housekeepers in 5-star establishments or dishwashers in the kitchens of fancy restaurants.
It seems everyone is qualified and destined to become nothing less than a manager, simply because that is how they were raised at home and taught at school.
As regards housemaids and workers from “third-world” countries (a misnomer, as some of these countries, have an appreciation for life and social culture far superior to our own), it was embarrassing to hear the labour agents’ representative saying that the vast majority of “these girls” are looked after very well and live in envious conditions.
We all know of too many cases where many of “these girls” are treated poorly and are forced to work on the seventh day, simply because they are paid a double rate.
The government, in its 16-point decree issued in an effort to defend the state’s incompetence in defending foreign workers and their rights, said that it is illegal for a labourer to work on the seventh day, even if with the full agreement of both employer and employee. So, the law is not implemented, to begin with.
And the wages “these girls” get, start from a gross 350 euros, and deducted, according to social insurance contributions (benefits to which many are not eligible when it comes to pensions) and now the national health service dues, giving the excuse that “you are allowed free hospital care”.
In other words, these workers, many of them vulnerable, earn a net below 300 euros a month. No wonder they seek alternative income over weekends or their days off.
Very few employers are generous in that they pay their housemaids, farmhands or carers a net salary of 400 euros or more, and those are the truly concerned citizens.
Respect has to be earned and the best place to start is to pay these hard workers what they deserve. If the law does not provide, then the law should be changed, a pledge we have not heard from any budding MEP candidate these past few weeks.
