The Labor Ministry is prioritizing the drafting of a roadmap for the strengthening of collective bargaining and the signing of collective labor agreements, following the setting of the new minimum wage at 880 euros.
This is the course that will be drawn up by the ministry with the assistance of the proposals submitted by both the General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE), if it agrees to participate in the process, and the employer organizations, with the aim of increasing collective contracts and covering at least 80% of employees, from the 27% to 30% today.
The goal is described in the European directive that Greece recently ratified, on adequate wages, and according to Minister Niki Kerameus, the ministry is currently looking at best practices from other countries in the context of providing incentives for the strengthening of collective bargaining.
“Collective labor contracts are very low in the country and this must be corrected,” she said on Thursday at a press conference regarding the presentation of the context of private sector wages, as formed after the increase in the minimum wage by 6.02% from April 1.
In this context, the roadmap that is being prepared, to be presented next fall, will include amendments to the current legislative regime, after prior consultation with all social partners, who will be invited to submit their proposals. According to information, the changes will concern both the terms and conditions for declaring a collective labor contract generally mandatory, so that it is applied compulsorily to all enterprises in a sector, as well as the structure and role of the registers of trade unions and employers’ organizations, as the current provisions serve more as a disincentive to extend a contract than the opposite.
It should be noted that in the rest of the European Union, the average coverage of employees by such contracts is 57% and the commitment that all member-states have undertaken is to increase coverage to 80%, with the aim of improving employees’ incomes.