Journalism is in danger in Cyprus. The UCJ has sounded the alarm over shrinking wages, widespread job insecurity and systematic understaffing in the media sector, leading to increased workload, which could compromise the quality of information. 

The fight for pay rises and decent working conditions has been ongoing for years, but skyrocketing inflation has been a trigger. 

“The working conditions for journalists in Cyprus have reached a breaking point,” claims UCJ President George Frangos. “We strongly believe that the conditions for quality investigative journalism are unfortunately no longer met in Cyprus, which have a potentially devastating impact on the quality of information, media pluralism and democracy in general”.

The collective agreement for press workers has not been renewed for more than a decade and all UCJ’s efforts to do so have been met with the refusal of the employers to start negotiations.  The situation is no better in the online media sector, where journalists working for online news outlets are not covered by any collective agreement.

“With our campaign we aim to highlight the urgent need for decent salaries, renewal of the collective agreements and better working conditions [...] We are seeking the support of the whole society for our fair demands and to stand by journalism as a public good in Cyprus,” explains Frangos. 

The UCJ encourages sister unions and journalists across the world to sign its petition to back its demands and share solidarity messages on social media using the hashtag #esk. 

The IFJ and the EFJ stand by their affiliate and fully back its demands of pay rises and decent working. “The fair demands of journalists in Cyprus and our affiliate resonate with the fight of journalists’ unions across the world. There is a need to understand that poor working conditions and low pay affect the quality of information, and it could have an irreversible impact on democracy. We urge employers to start negotiations with unions and journalists’ representatives”.