Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis submitted a request for a roll call vote on all articles of the labour bill, throwing down the gauntlet to the opposition. He stressed that the hypocrisy of the opposition will be highlighted and in the “mother of all battles“, they will end up voting for two out of three of the articles in the bill unless they choose to leave the chamber.
“I urge you to vote in favour so that Greece too can acquire the institutional working environment worthy of the role it claims in the 21st century, modern and fair, social and developmental, effective, but always fair. A framework that does not only change the rules of the old game, but also the players themselves, liberating the world of production as a whole, giving impetus to all the players of the economy and arming the workers of our country with new strength.“, he stressed.
Mr. Mitsotakis, stressed that the labour bill responds to the challenges of the present, to the demands of the future, overcomes the “middle age” and sets rules in the “jungle” that is currently in force. He said that those who question this reality turn out to be supporters of the maintenance and sedimentation of a regime that they themselves denounce.
He added that with its 129 articles, the bill builds a modern working environment in Greece. It ratifies two landmark conventions on health and safety at work and on tackling violence and harassment at work, and launches ten bold cuts to protect workers.
Section one
Digital Job Card
The Digital Job Card that will be used by the worker “tostrike at the same time black work, undeclared overtime and tax evasion“. Hours of employment will be recorded in real time, without any intervention on the platform of the Ministry of Labour. All arbitrariness is abolished and a long-standing demand of the GSEE is adopted.
Section two
Labour Inspectorate
The restructuring of the Labour Inspectorate ceases to be the responsibility of the Minister and becomes an independent authority.
Section three
Working time
Arranging working time. Each employee can arrange his or her own working time. This allows him to work up to two hours more, which will be translated into additional leave, so that he can better adjust to his personal needs. A business can operate more intensively when needed and the employee can have up to 3 days off per week. It favours seasonal occupations and facilitates large categories of workers.
Section four
Compensation for manual and clerical workers
Equal treatment of workers and employees as regards redundancy pay. For the former it was only a few days’ wages and for the latter their annual salaries. It took 101 years to redress this injustice. The Prime Minister stressed that “this right-wing government is proving to be more progressive than the left-wing slogans of a century ago”.
Section five
Courier and Delivery
A new field of work is acquiring its own regulatory framework. Self-employed courier and delivery workers will be provided with protective helmets and vehicles by the companies, and will work with insurance and, if they wish, with union representation.
Section six
Paternity leave
14 days’ paid paternity leave is introduced for the first time. The new father will be protected for six months and both parents will be entitled to subsidised parental leave. Women are protected from violence and harassment. Dismissal of a pregnant woman and a new mother is prohibited and this right is extended to a surrogate mother or adoption.
Section seven
Harmonisation of overtime figures with European standards
The legal extra work is increased to 150 hours per year with the corresponding increases in employee pay. On the other side of the river when there is an overrun they will be compensated at 120% instead of 80 of the daily wage.
Section eight
Telecommuting
Greece is becoming a pioneer in teleworking rules. It will only be mandatory for health reasons and the infrastructure will be borne by the employer. The right to disconnect will apply as it already does in countries like Spain. The employer will not be able to keep disturbing the employee remotely and technical procedures are in place to ensure that the communication is completed automatically when it is over.
Section nine
Work on Sunday
From now on, all businesses that operate in the rest of Europe and especially in the Mediterranean countries will operate on Sundays in Greece as well.
The list is growing, but workers’ rights remain stable. Their pay is increased by 75% and each working day will be made up with a day of rest the following week.
Section ten
Trade unionism
“The decalogue is completed by democratic transparency in the current dark labyrinth of trade unionism“, the Prime Minister stressed.
“Safeguards are put in place to prevent the abuse of mobilisations that marginalise legitimate demands. There are provisions to ensure that claims are not directed against others. The public interest is in everyone’s interest“, noted Mr. Mitsotakis.
In addition, the Prime Minister said: “When a strike is rejected by the court, it will not be able to come back through the window with another decision of an appellate union. Strike is separated from illegality“.
There will always be security personnel in the utility companies and the municipalities will not be drowned in garbage, not all citizens will be left without public transport when a union makes a demand. The mobilisations will be decided with workers’ participation and not in closed offices.
Tsipras demagogues – The answers to fake news
The Prime Minister stressed that workers need to be protected so that they can perform better and businesses need flexibility so that their own stagnation does not affect employment. For trade unionists he said that they should fight for the insecure and precarious and not just to be secure themselves.
Responding to the criticisms of the opposition, Mr. Mitsotakis stressed that what one can blame the government for is that it delayed to create this bill, but as he said, it required preparation. The central labour reform is clearly foreseen in the government’s election manifesto. He invoked John F. Kennedy’s quote “You make a roof for the rain when it’s sunny“.
Addressing Alexis Tsipras, he accused him of spreading poison and demagoguing to confuse and spoke of fake news of SYRIZA, to which he responded by saying the following:
1) The protection of the 8-hour period is explicitly mentioned in Article 55 of the bill. Anyone who says that abolishes political logic. The 8-hour week is explicitly provided for in the European Social Charter. This can only change when a state leaves Europe. Another flirted with the idea.
2) Overtime will be paid with time off: whoever says this has taken time off from the truth. Overtime will be paid at a premium on the employee’s salary. There are indeed black overtime hours, but these are spent on the construction of propaganda in the laboratories of Koumoundourou. You confuse overtime with working time arrangements.
3) Flexible working hours are coming: Well received by those who say so. Its amendments have the signatures of Xenogiannakopoulou and Ragoussi. Tell us about the loans to the parties afterwards because you were PASOK secretary. Flexible working hours were fully implemented under SYRIZA, as they are now in tourism and in dozens of businesses. Only the opposition has a record of flexibility in cubbies.
4) Individual contracts are established: It is difficult to establish something that is established. The new law extends a European directive that was passed under SYRIZA with Minister Mrs. Achtssioglou. She will explain to you if it is correct. Ask your Podemos friends who introduced it in Spain.
