Adonis Georgiadis’ major priorities at the Ministry of Labor

Adonis Georgiadis, who today takes over the Ministry of Labor, is loaded with heavy files. The agenda of the new ministry management and their resolution.

These are specifically salary and pension increases, three-year benefits, the status of collective labor agreements, pending pensions, retrospective such as court decisions, changes to professional funds, and the full digitization of the EFKA.

Mr. Georgiadis has until next autumn to promote the bill with the reform of the occupational safety funds to the Parliament. This is the first crash test of the new leadership of the ministry, through which he will come into direct contact with the problems of the insurance system.

Professional funds

The previous leadership of the territory of the ministry, but also in the conditions of establishment of the multi-employer funds. The content of the new change includes the regulatory framework of occupational safety and the supporting measures for the development of the new Funds. There are four axes on which the new reform will move: firstly, the modernization of the institutional operating framework of occupational safety. Secondly, the facilitation of the creation of multi-employer funds. Third, the transition from the current fragmented supervisory scheme to a single supervisory structure. And fourthly, the rationalization of the relevant tax provisions.

Private sector wage increases

The new leadership of the ministry will initiate – again – the process to increase the minimum wage at the end of January 2024 – so that the new wage will be implemented by the end of May 2024.

The three years

At the same time, the new government will be called upon to handle the issue of the reinstatement of the three-year allowance, if the rapid de-escalation of unemployment rates recorded in recent months continues. This will mean a salary increase of 30% for employees who have previous service (three years) and have remained since 2012 with a frozen salary development. According to the current memorandum law, employees who were hired after February 2012 lost the right to their salary increase due to seniority.

Collective labor agreements

It is estimated that the pressures will intensify – in the next period – in order for the new government to restore the – before the memorandums – regime of collective negotiations and sectoral labor contracts.

Reduction of unemployment

The goal is to reduce unemployment below 10%, which is not yet visible, as international organizations seem to “see” a slowdown in employment growth.

Pension increases

The operation of the “permanent” pension increase process – at the end of each year – is judged at the beginning of 2024. The mechanism already exists – with the law 4670/2020 -, so at the beginning of the new year the new pension increase by 3, 4 %, while an additional increase of 0.3% may occur due to deviation of the 2022 data.

Pending pensions   

The new leadership of the Ministry of Labor will continue to grapple with the problem of outstanding pensions, as well as having a significant backlog.