New provision included in the old industry agreement and declared binding by the Secretary of Labor Kostis Hatzidakissolves the problem created with six-day work in bars and restaurantsas it provides additional daily wages to approximately 400,000 workers in subsistence if they work on the weekend. This daily wage will be paid an additional 75% if their work falls on a weekend and falls on a Sunday or public holiday.

This add-on has been added to sectoral collective labor agreement which applies to all workers in the food industry and which the Minister of Labor, Kostis Hatzidakis, by decision, has declared mandatory for all enterprises and workers in the sector.

In particular, the Supreme Labor Council, which met yesterday, gave a corresponding positive conclusion to the Minister of Labor.

The addendum was agreed between employers and employees and confirms that “in all institutions a five-day working week is established with 40 hours of working time and two days of rest.” However, it also provides that if food workers work on rest days, they are paid an additional pay, namely compensation in the amount of one day’s wages for each day of rest worked, which is paid a supplement of 75% if the country receives work on a holiday in Sunday or on a holiday established by labor legislation.

The regulation also provides that work on weekends, if any, increases and works to the benefit of employees’ monthly wages and insurance wages due. And it expressly states that under no circumstances can their work these days be considered a simple individual or systematic violation of the five-day period. The five-day work is still in effect, and the extra work on the sixth day—only 40 hours per week, i.e. 6 hours and 40 minutes per day—is due to seasonality and increased workload and is not an agreement to bypass the five-day work.

It is noted that the collective labor agreement of the industry for the period from 02/22/2021 to 02/22/2023 has already been declared a binding decision by Mr. Hatsidakis. The addition was approved by the Panhellenic Federation of Food and Tourism Workers, the General Confederation of Professionals – Artisans – Merchants of Greece, the Panhellenic Federation of Restaurants and Allied Professions and the Federation of Professional Confectioners of Greece.