In a last minute amendment submitted to the omnibus bill short before voting on Thursday, Greece’s Labor Minister abolished basic rights for the protection of laborers, thus offering gifts to employers.
The amendment abolishes the “justified dismissal” of an employee, their right for compensation as well as the liability of contractors and subcontractors who hire them.
Abolished are:
- The provision of the 2019 law, which provided that for a dismissal to be legal, the employer had to state a “justified reason,” such as e.g. employee behavior as defined by the European Social Charter. With the abolition, the employer does not need to justify anymore the employee’s dismissal.
2. A provision of the 2019 Act, which suspends the time-limits for employees to take legal action against their employer during the conciliation procedure (this applies mainly to illegal dismissals)
3. The “joint and solidarity responsibility of a contractor and subcontractor towards workers” (Law of 2018) which provided that if a contractor’s employees have requirements that are not met by their direct employer, they may turn to the contractor of the project to meet their requirements (e.g. salary claims.)
Critics say that the abolition of the laborers’ protection opens the way for the dismissal of older and expensive labor craft and their replacement with young and cheap.
The government justified the amendment claiming that its main goal is the creation of many new jobs and the protection of the present ones.
Indicative for which interests the amendment serves are articles in pro-government media that say “the provisions were voted under the SYRIZA government despite the objections of the entrepreneurs in the country.”
It is worth noting that economic news website capital.gr, uploaded Thursday morning the “six measures entrepreneurs want for contractors, hiring, dismissals.” Among them was the abolition of “justified dismissal” and “the liability of contractors.” Labor Minister Giannis Vroutsis met their demands, for the remaining four measures, the minister and the employers’ representatives like the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) will start negotiations in September.
PS In bailout agreement times, we used to call scrapping laborers’ rights as “structural reforms” to boost competitiveness…
