The labour bill was “passed” after three days of a fierce battle between the government and the opposition, but also the strong reaction of the workers’ unions. Kyriakos Mitsotakis called for a roll call vote on all articles of the bill, in order to show the position of the opposition parties on provisions that the government believes are in favour of workers.
More specifically, the new labour law was voted for in principle, in its entirety and its 129 articles, in a roll-call vote, which was called by the government itself in an unprecedented strategic move to deconstruct the opposition’s flattening criticism of the steamroller, with 158 “YES” from the entire parliamentary group of the Southwest, which defended its provisions as progressive, liberal and developmental.
“We are setting rules in the jungle and overcoming the Middle Ages“, the Prime Minister stressed, while Labour Minister Kostis Hatzidakis spoke of a big step forward, which gives more power to workers, the economy and the country.
On the other side, the opposition voted against the bill in principle and its emblematic provisions with 142 “NO” votes, denouncing the government for returning to the Middle Ages and ripping up basic labour acquis, turning the country into a special economic zone of cheap labour. SYRIZA – KINAL and KKE even attempted a “rebuff” with their own separate requests for a roll call vote.
Alexis Tsipras launched a harsh accusation against the Hatzidakis law and stressed that the countdown for the government has already begun.
“Myth number one, iconic myth is the abolition of the eight-hour day. Whoever says this is doing away with the Greek language, because the protection of the eight-hour period is explicitly mentioned in article 55 of the bill. Myth two, overtime will be paid with time off. Whoever is shouting this has taken a day off from the truth“, the Prime Minister said.
“When governments come into conflict with the great social majority and its interests, their days are numbered. And you are coming into conflict and that will mean the end of you“, the opposition leader replied.
The minor opposition parties also launched a fierce attack on labour.
“It deregulates labour relations, flattens labour rights, undermines collective agreements“, said the president of the Movement for Change, Fofi Gennimata.
“You are trying to paint the black and white and present the bill as supposedly liberal. The stones laugh too“, stressed the General Secretary of the KKE Dimitris Koutsoumbas.
“You are coming with a labour bill to create a new working Middle Ages“, said the president of the Hellenic Solution Kyriakos Velopoulos.
“You think you have the power to defeat both reason and right. Laugh“, commented the secretary of MP24 Yanis Varoufakis.
SYRIZA and the Movement for Change, however, gave a positive vote to most of the 55 provisions of the international conventions and the European directive on health, safety, violence and sexual harassment in the workplace, which are commitments of the country, although they criticized the government for using them as a straw man.
“YES” said “YES” to several of these regulations and the MPA25. The Hellenic Solution moved between “YES” and “YES” on these, while the KKE said an unequivocal “NO” to all of them, as Dimitris Koutsoumbas had criticized the government for using them as a “gimmick” for the slaves of the 21st century.
Interestingly, after many months, there was also a picture of full seats in the plenary chamber, following the relaxation of health protocols that allowed the participation of all Members in physical presence in the roll-call vote.
Statement by Hatzidakis
“The roll-call vote that we called for led to the unmasking of the opposition. SYRIZA voted for half of the articles of this “three-crap” bill, as they called it. At the same time, in an unprecedented political storm, he voted against the article on the 8-hour week. I repeat, it voted against the article that guarantees the 8-hour working day, while at the same time, it voted “present” on the regulations for the trade union rights of self-employed workers in the delivery and voted “present” in the Directive, which SYRIZA itself had signed, i.e., the Community Directive 1158, in relation to flexible working time arrangements for the reconciliation of personal and professional life.“, Kostis Hatzidakis said after the end of the vote and added: “We expect explanations for this political hypocrisy and for this unprecedented political storm.“.
The response of SYRIZA on the eight-hour work week
Parliamentary sources of SYRIZA commenting on Mr. Hatzidakis, they say that article 55, which refers to the eight-hour working day, also includes the 10-hour working day and that is why it was not possible to vote for it.
