Wage increases through Collective Labour Agreements are a barrier to accuracy, Minister of Labour and Social Security, Niki Kerameos, on OPEN TV.

As Ms Kerameos pointed out, the Collective Labour Agreement was signed on the basis of the National Social Agreement which facilitates both the signing and the extension of Collective Labour Agreements. She added that the result of the signing of the new Collective Agreement in the food service sector is that the minimum wage is higher, which now ranges from 930 to 1,100 euros, while bonuses and a three-year increment are provided for.

“So, the Collective Labour Agreement ensures better working conditions for almost half a million people,” she stressed.

He even announced the conclusion of Collective Labour Agreements in other sectors, and said an extension has already been expanded for workers in the production of sugar confectionery.

“The original contract signed was for 6,000 workers. With our extension decision yesterdaywe went from 6,000 to 23,000. So the benefits of the Collective Labour Agreement are extended to this sector as well. And can I tell you why all this matters? We’re talking too much about accuracy, about the difficult circumstances that really plague too many households. There’s no better way to alleviate some of the consequences of this international crisis than to raise wages. But when you’re talking about the average wage, the only way to raise wages is through collective agreements. That’s why we insisted so much and invested so much in getting an agreement with all the representatives of workers and employers not just for the government to go and legislate in the House, but for it to come out of an agreement, that agreement was made, we all got it together, it was passed. Notably, without the votes of the opposition, unfortunately,” the minister said.

Ms. Kerameos even stressed that PASOK voted against the National Social Agreement in principle in Parliament. “When you are an opposition party and you come to parliament and say I vote no in principle to something that all the representatives of workers and employers have agreed on, don’t you want the government? Leave the government. Here all the social partners have decided together,” the minister said.

With regard to the wage gap between men and women, a problem that the whole of Europe is facing, Ms Kerameos noted that the new – currently being drafted – bill to address the issue has three main elements:

“To strengthen wage transparency, that is, to put an obligation that before you go to an interview you will know what pay we are talking about or what pay range we are talking about. Greater salary transparency. Second element, we will not allow gender-specific notices. So all job postings will be gender-neutral. Third, you’ve been hired, you’re in the workplace and let’s say you work in an accounting department. And there are 20 employees in the accounting department, 5 are doing exactly the same job. You can ask for the salary structures, meaning how the salaries are structured for these 5 positions that are the same as yours. There is still the phenomenon of women being paid less than men for identical jobs. We are going to combat that, to protect women to be paid the same way as men.”

The minister went on to say that after multiple meetings with the National Social Partners, the ministry has already incorporated over 50 of their proposals. “Fifty proposals from the representatives of workers and employers to make this bill better, more functional, more protective for the labour market, especially for women.”

Finally, Ms Kerameos, referring to the“Rebrain Greece” event held in London last Saturday, stressed that “the image of the 3.107 Greeks who came on a Saturday morning, while they have other family commitments and other obligations and came to talk to 35 of the biggest Greek companies, this image alone, 3,000 Greeks who want to come back speaks for itself. Greece is changing and that’s why more and more people are coming back and they want to do interviews with top Greek businesses because they want to find a serious career opportunity to come back.”

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