Greece -Unions oppose further wage cuts -January 5, 2012

Trade union leaders have indicated that they are unwilling to agree to a reduction in the minimum wage and private sector salaries despite demands from the country’s lenders to do so. In mid-December, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos told union leaders that Greece might have to reduce its minimum wage and private sector workers could have to accept severe wage cuts as part of the reforms needed to secure funding without which the country would be likely to go bankrupt by March. In early January, Yiannis Panagopoulos, president of the private sector confederation GSEE, said that the country’s competitiveness was not being affected by the level of wages and that his union would not agree to the minimum rate and to the 13th and 14th monthly salaries being reduced or scrapped. He got support from the ranks of SME’s. The president of the General Confederation of Greek Small Businesses and Traders (GSEVEE), Dimitris Asimakopoulos, said that he was unwilling to change the terms of collective contracts and would resist an attempt by the government to do so through a change in labour laws (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 February, March, April, May, June, September, October and November 2011).

English: http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_05/01/2012_421260

 

This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl or the communications officer of the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2012.

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