OK, Greece went bankrupt partly because of the tax evasion. Partly because of 1,000 reasons. But most of all because of the scandalous wages in the public sector and state-run enterprises. There is this delicious report of Greek newspaper Proto Thema on its online edition. The report focuses on the transfer of personnel from the railway company to several state hospitals on the occasion of the sanitation of the Train-OSE and the transfer of 1,500 employees.
A total of 379 people were transferred from TrainOSE to state hospitals in Athens and other Greek cities to cover health sector needs in administrative personnel, station assistants and ambulance/patients transport. 131 of those were of compulsory education (6 years) and were planned to find new fields of work as station assistants and patients’ transport.With the new Troika demands, the personnel suffered, of course, wages cuts. But how much did they earn before the transfer?
On the basis of three examples Proto Thema reports on the …plight of the personnel transfer, as three employees describe their experiences.
Harilaos Markis, 50: from parcels transporter to patients’ transport at the General Hospital of Lamia
For 27 years Harilaos’ occupation was described as “weigher”. “My position was to carry parcels and luggage and weigh them. Since 1985, I weighed and conveyed parcels of any size and weight, thousands of tons, ” Harilaos told Proto Thema. The newspaper stresses, that the transferred personnel now earns half of the previous salary. From €2,200 (benefits and allowances not included!)down to €1,000 per month.
“Personally I was seeking the position of guard or gardener. But now I look after patients. It is a difficult work since I deal with sick people” said Harilaos, the compulsory education guy earned until recently 2,200 euro per month.
In another example, Marianna Konsta, 44, describes her new job in an Athens hospital. Marianna, an accountant, was earning €1,100 per month at Trainose, now 100 EUR less. “I’m worried about the labour reserve. I get retired in 12 years, I cannot go earlier, I have family obligations, I can’t afford it” says Marianna, the woman who plans to be a pensioner at 56!
In the private sector Harilaos would still get less than 1,000 EUR per month even after 27 years of work experience and Marianna would get her retirement at 65. In public sector benefits and allowances can double the monthly income. However the Troika erased almost 100 B&A.
I think that the cause of the catastrophe in Greece is the corruption in the Greek government– specifically their lies about the deficit (both major parties). I am sure Greece could have been more efficient in a number of ways, but many countries have a high deficit, and they deal with it. If instead they lied about the deficit, like Greece, and then suddenly “discovered” it was a huge number, a crisis would ensue.
Also, if public sector pay goes down, so will private sector. That is true in any country. The private sector will not have to compete with a high-paying public sector for employees. So they will just lower their wages.
very true that lower wages in private sector are inevitable. Corruption and Lies go together…