PEO, the Pancyprian Federation of Labour (, ), is an

umbrella organization An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and iden ...

for

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

, which evolved from PSE (). It was instrumental in the 1948 strikes in the mines of the

Cyprus Mines Corporation The Cyprus Mines Corporation was an early twentieth century American mining company based in Cyprus. In 1914, Charles G. Gunther began prospecting in the Skouriotissa area after reading in ancient books that the island was rich in copper and noti ...

and has been closely related to

AKEL The Progressive Party of Working People (, , ΑΚΕΛ or AKEL; ) is a Marxist–LeninistHelena Smith, Cyprus gets ready for a communist 'takeover''The Guardian 2008 communist party in Cyprus. AKEL is one of the two major parties in Cyprus, and ...

History

When

was declared illegal by the British colonial government of

in 1955, PEO and especially its leader Andreas Ziartides was the only legal leftwing political entity and it was expressing the politics of underground

. PEO had a membership from all ethnic groups in Cyprus. In 1958 the Turkish Cypriot nationalistic organisation TMT launched a terror campaign against

Turkish Cypriot Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( or ; ) are so called ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots are mainly Sunni Muslims. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,000 Turkish settlers were given land onc ...

members of PEO, killing the journalist

Fazıl Önder Fazıl Önder (1926 – 1958) was a Turkish Cypriot journalist who was assassinated. Biography Fazıl Önder was born in Omorphita in 1926. He completed primary school, but was unable to attend secondary school for financial reasons. Thereafter, ...

and attempting to kill the head of PEO's Turkish bureau, Ahmet Sadi. Following those events, most Turkish Cypriots left the union, and PEO's members since then have primarily been

Greek Cypriots Greek Cypriots (, ) are the ethnic Greeks, Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest Ethnolinguistic group, ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2023 census, 719,252 respondents recorded their ethnicity as Greek, forming al ...

. The PEO is affiliated with the

World Federation of Trade Unions The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) is an international federation of trade union, trade unions established on October 3, 1945. Founded in the immediate aftermath of World War Two, the organization built on the pre-war legacy of the Int ...

. List of general secretaries: *Andreas Fantis (1941–1943) * Andreas Ziartides (1943–1987) *Pavlos Diglis (1987–1990) *Abraham Antoniou (1990–1999) * Pambis Kyritsis (1999–2022) *Sotiroula Charalambous (2022–present)

Footnotes

References

External links

Official Web Site
1941 establishments in Cyprus National federations of trade unions Trade unions in Cyprus World Federation of Trade Unions {{Europe-trade-union-stub

History

See also

Footnotes

References

External links