By S. Papapetros
[email protected]
Labor ministry sources this week maintained that an agreement, in principle, announced last Friday on the margins of a Eurogroup meeting in Malta does not include changes in substance of a law governing mass layoffs in the country.
Creditors, primarily the IMF, have pressured for an increase in the maximum number of a layoffs a company in Greece can take on a monthly basis. The Fund’s experts have long argued that troubled companies in the country attempting to restructure, including their loan portfolio, cannot layoff and rehire their workforce as part of a rescue plan.
Nevertheless, according to the same sources, the provision that gives the relevant labor minister a veto over monthly layoffs will be abolished. The right of pre-approval of mass redundancies – but at the same number allowed today – will be transferred to representatives of social partners, who will participate on a trilateral committee composed of one representative each from employers, employees and the ministry.
The ministry sources added that changes are also eyed for a landmark 1982 law governing the operation and rights of labor unions in the country, with revisions expected to rollback unionists’ privileges, such as time off with pay for union business and even a prohibition on the firing of elected unionists due to criminal convictions.
Finally, the ministry sources claimed no changes will be made on the framework that applies for declaring industrial actions in the country, also stipulated under the 1982 law. Creditors, with the IMF again leading the charge, want the law changed to require that 50 percent+1 of a sector or company's workforce approves a strike. Currently, the majority of participants at a duly called and held general assembly decide on a motion by the union’s board for a strike, usually by a show of hands.
