Christos Tsilonis*
▸Board meeting on 7/2/2024 of the Supreme General Confederation of Pension Organizations of Greece (AGSSE), which mainly represents pensioners from former DEKO and banking sectors.
Present 25 members out of 31. The first topic of discussion is the monthly expenses of the members of the administration, the so-called “traveling expenses”. “So much” the president, “so much” the secretary, “so much” the treasurer, etc. The specific 31-member administration has been elected by the last congress in May 2023, with several irregularities regarding the participation of primary bodies in a higher body, by representatives of the pension organizations of the so-called “DEKO-banks”. A bureaucratic formation, as it unfortunately works, in which the trade unionists of the bureaucratized unions of workers in the DEKO-banks after their retirement, said to continue the “enormous” work they accomplished as representatives of the workers.
The so-called monthly allowances essentially function as regular fees from the higher body. The same people are in positions of responsibility in secondary as well as primary unions in their field. The usual practice with few exceptions is to have corresponding “trip” procedures at all levels. As can be understood, if you take from one or possibly even from three trade union sites, you collect a respectable amount of a second pension per month! This has been happening for the last 40 years in the DEKO-bank unions and is now continuing in the pension unions. The absolute degeneration of the concept of voluntary representation and personal contribution of workers and pensioners.
A different practice now exists in the Emporiki Bank Retired Association since December 2016, when the Board of Directors changed and the party-union factions were left “out of infancy”: We abolished the travel allowance of 300 euros/month per Board member and the rest of the “coverages”. We proposed and it was approved by a massive general assembly a charter amendment, which provides for the prohibition of any remuneration or “expense” of the members of the Board of Directors. The union filed a lawsuit against all former members of the Board of Directors, period 2015-2016, claiming 82,000 euros that were illegally disbursed and three of them have already returned the amounts.
*Chairman of the Board of the Emporiki Bank Retirees’ Association
Published in the newspaper Before (17.02.24)
2024-02-19 15:00:45