2024-07-10 02:53:05
A “window” for the return of collective labor agreements was “opened” by the new Minister of Labor Mrs. Niki Kerameos during the meeting with the GSEE board.
The minister left open the possibility of pursuing a broader social agreement with all social partners in order to restore the legal framework of contracts which was abolished during the validity of the memorandums.
Collective labor agreements
According to information, the minister characterized this particular moment as “positive”, referring also to the change of leadership in the BSE, which – until recently – had the most reservations about this issue.
Mrs. Kerameos has already announced a series of contacts with the social partners, which she included in the context of the “continuous social dialogue”, which she activated, in order to seek “the best solutions to all the issues that concern the Ministry of Labor
In this context, he met the GSEE yesterday, while today he will have a meeting with the GSEVEE. In the coming days, he will meet with the Association of Businesses and Industrialists (SEB), the Hellenic Confederation of Trade and Entrepreneurship (ESEE), the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE) and the Association of Greek Industries (SBE).
According to information, the government is aiming for a “turn” around the issue of collective agreements, which is necessary to achieve the goals it has set for the formation of the average salary at 1,500 euros at the end of the four years.
The Prime Minister, Mr. K. Mitsotakis, referred to this yesterday during his visit to the Ministry of Labor, saying that his commitment regarding the amount of wages at the end of the four years is fully valid.
Any changes to the contracts are expected to be combined with the incorporation into Greek legislation of the relevant European directive on adequate minimum wages. This should be completed by next October.
The specific directive requires the member states to cover at least 80% of their employees with collective labor agreements which will determine the amount of wages. It is noteworthy that in our country the percentage of employees covered by collective agreements is lower than 30%
What is he asking for?
The GSEE raises the issue of the return of responsibility for setting wages through collective negotiations and the signing of collective agreements between the social partners, without government intervention.
Also, the restoration of scalability – that is, the extension of the validity of a contract to the entire industry – as well as the validity of retroactivity between contracts.
With the abolition of retroactivity, collective law and the regime for setting wages in the private sector entered a new era. In particular, in the cases of production branches where the contracts have expired and were not renewed with new sectoral labor contracts.
In these cases, where the renewal of the contracts ended, without signing a new contract, the total remuneration was pushed down.
At the same time, wages were further reduced through individual contracts. In this case the reductions were much higher, as the only limit set is the minimum wage limits of the National General Collective Labor Agreement.
Source OT