The trade union Isotita has filed an official complaint with the Ministry of Labour, alleging systematic retaliation, harassment and obstruction of trade union activity against senior prison union representative Georgios Maltezos.
In a letter dated 19 May 2026, addressed to Labour and Social Insurance Minister Marinos Mousiouttas and the Director of the Department of Labour Relations and Registrar of Trade Unions, Antis Apostolou, the union claims that the Prisons Department leadership took a series of administrative and disciplinary actions aimed at silencing independent union activity at the Central Prisons.
According to the complaint, the actions against Maltezos, who serves as Vice-President of the Prison Officers’ Sectoral Council and as Isotita’s press representative, began after his public interventions in December 2025 on overcrowding, drug trafficking and understaffing at the Central Prisons.
The union says these were followed by his sudden transfer to an office post under the supervision of a Pancyprian Public Servants’ Trade Union official, restrictions on his union facilities, threats of disciplinary measures and a request for disciplinary explanations over a Labour Day announcement. Isotita also refers to alleged incidents of verbal harassment and public remarks against union representatives. It notes that one day after a previous complaint it submitted to state authorities, an investigating officer was appointed for disciplinary proceedings against Maltezos, which the union says points to retaliatory conduct.
The union cites provisions of Cypriot and international law, including International Labour Organization conventions, the European Convention on Human Rights and the recent law on the prevention and handling of violence and harassment in the workplace. It is seeking an immediate investigation by Labour Ministry inspectors, the suspension of any disciplinary procedure against Maltezos until the inquiry is completed, and the mediation of the Registrar of Trade Unions in the labour dispute with the Prisons Department leadership. It also raises the issue of equal treatment of trade unions in the public sector, referring to state funding of the Pancyprian Public Servants’ Trade Union.
Meanwhile, Isotita’s Sectoral Council of Secretarial and Clerical Staff issued a statement in support of Maltezos and the members of the Prison Officers’ Sectoral Council, alleging a “coordinated attack” and “silencing practices”.
The council said Maltezos had faced, for about a year, a series of hostile actions aimed at intimidation and his moral exhaustion. It accused the Central Prisons administration of focusing on pressure against union activity instead of addressing problems in the correctional system. The council said such practices would not be accepted and warned that it would respond “in the most dynamic way”.
Source: CNA
