‘Thousands of workers will see an immediate improvement in their available income’
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
The end of the bailout programmes will mean “regaining the freedom to choose, shape and exercise policy,” Labour, Social Insurance and Social Solidarity Minister Efi Achtsioglou said in an interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) released on Sunday.
“With the successful completion of the programme the present government is delivering the foremost commitment it made to Greek society in 2015,” she added, while the aim in the period following the memorandums was to make its social policy universal and support a broader social majority, not only the very weakest sections of society.
“We now have the tools to achieve this,” Achtsioglou said, indicating that a first outline of these will be presented by the prime minister at the Thessaloniki International Fair in two weeks time.
“…on the one hand, we have established firm foundations in crucial areas of the social state that I mentioned above, while on the other hand we have ensured the required fiscal space that allows us to intervene positively. The prime minister’s announcements at TIF will make specific the more than 750 million euros of available fiscal space for 2019 in relief and social benefits that will serve as the ‘tracer ammunition’ for this effort,” she said.
In a detailed explanation to ANA on the post-programme landscape for wage earners, Achtsioglou described the steps toward fully restoring the basic principles of collective bargaining, extensibility and ‘best agreement’ principle – preventing employers from offering lower wages and conditions than those of sectoral collective agreements. She also indicated that an increase in the minimum wage was imminent, after an evaluation expected to take roughly four months.
The bottom line, she added, was that “thousands of workers will see an immediate improvement in their available income.”
Talking about the pension cuts demanded by Greece’s creditors and have yet to come into effect, Achtsioglou said that Athens was sticking to its guns on a technical level, considering the cuts unnecessary, while the political climate in Europe was currently much more favourably inclined toward Greece than it had been during the second review, as indicated by European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici in his statements.
“Labour issues are a clear dividing line between the government and main opposition,” she added, giving an indication on what is likely to follow leading up toward the next elections in 2019.
Source: ANA-MPA