At the end of the week or early next, an amendment will be submitted to Parliament, which will set a timetable for consultations with the social partners and scientific bodies regarding minimal salary and, during the next week, this will be discussed.

This was stated, in particular, by the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Kostis Hatzidakisin an interview with the Action24 TV channel and noted that, according to the schedule, the dialogue with social partners would be completed by the end of February, and in early March, the Minister of Labor would make a recommendation to the Council of Ministers for a final decision.

Regarding the amount of the upcoming increase in the minimum wage, Mr. Hatzidakis explained that no scenario could be confirmed at this stage, since the process of determining the amount of the new increase had not yet begun.

However, the Minister of Labor emphasized that the government gave examples of writing last year’s increase, pointing out that with last year’s increase, Greece is in 9th place among the 22 EU countries. who have a statutory minimum wage, “in the meantime, two other countries have intervened and we are now in 11th place.”

“There is no magic rubber band that will eliminate the consequences of the international crisis”

At the same time, he stressed that the new increase will be significant and will respond to the pressure faced by workers, especially those receiving the minimum wage, but at the same time will take into account the resilience and competitiveness of the business. “There is no magic rubber band that will eliminate the effects of an international crisis,” he said.

Regarding the rooftop video of SYRIZA, the Minister of Labor said he was impressed by the video and added: “We got 17.5% unemployment from SYRIZA, we brought it up to 11.4%.” We raised the minimum wage to 650, we raised it to 713, and we’re going to raise it again, big and fair, and he points the finger at us. Mr. Tsipras only increased housing allowances. We have an integrated and large program by Greek standards that reaches 137,000 young people. In March, preferential or interest-free loans will be issued to youth and young couples under the age of 39, and by the end of February-beginning of March, the first houses will be commissioned. (1000 houses).”

The Minister of Labor also mentioned the benefits of implementing the Digital Labor Card, saying: “Insurance premiums have already been reduced by 4.4 percentage points. We believe that the expansion of the Digital Work Card, which records employee time, will allow us to engage in said work, and thus more insurance material will be obtained and we will be able to reduce contributions even more in a healthy way.

Among other things, Mr. Hatzidakis noted that there are 682 different types of industry contracts. “Contracts are not ordered, they are the result of an agreement between employers and employees. We want and encourage sectoral contracts, we are looking for common denominators, but we cannot legislate them,” the minister explained.

Source: APE/MEB