About 700,000 workers paid the minimum wage or covered by collective bargaining agreements, which allow seniority benefits they will take the three years from 1.1 2024.
The measure of the three-year thaw that he announced the prime minister from the stage of the TIFaccording to the first unofficial calculations of the Ministry of Labor, is expected to benefit about 700,000 workers
Press conference of the political leadership of the Ministry of Labour
The Minister of Labor & Social Security Adonis Georgiadisthe deputy ministers Vassilis Spanakis, Panos Tsakloglou and the general secretaries Anna Stratinaki and Nikos Milapidis will hold a press conference at 11:00, with the central theme of the “unfreezing” of the three years.
In any case, the measure concerns workers in the private sector who:
- They get paid with him minimum wage
- They get paid with active Collective Labor Agreements that they foresee seniority benefits which had also been frozen
Such benefits are the annual increase in the contract of hotel staff and bank employees, the three-year increase in waiters and the multi-year increase in the rest of the specialties of the hospitality industry. By length of service, they note, we do not mean working for the same employer but working time in general for those paid the minimum wage and years of work in the same industry if they are paid under sectoral contracts.
With the three year unfreeze it is as if time restarted from February 2012 and nothing happened in the intervening 11 years and there is no retroactivity.
Lawyer-labor expert Yiannis Karouzos explains to us: “The government did its duty. From now on, the responsibility for formulating collective labor agreements belongs to the social partners. Many collective labor agreements that are concluded provide for seniority benefits, which the social partners agree not to develop. The clauses provided for in the collective labor agreements in the arbitration decisions from 1.1.2024 will be released and thus the seniority allowance or time allowances will evolve.
“Until this is accomplished, even if their evolution has been foreseen in the SSE or in arbitration decisions, their evolution is absolutely invalid.” Noting that “today, unfortunately, it is necessary to simplify the procedure for those cases where there is no agreement on the signing of a collective bargaining agreement between the representatives of employers and employees, with the aim of always having a solution. Today, unfortunately, this requires a long time and costs due to the bureaucratic procedures, discouraging the social partners”.
Employees who are not covered by sectoral contracts, as long as they have an individual employment contract with a salary that is no longer determined by the sectoral contract, the minimum wage also applies to them as a basis according to Mr. Karouzos. So if these employees have an individual contract with a salary above the minimum, to see if they will receive an increase from the unfreezing of the three years from 1.1.2024, they should consider whether the increase of the minimum creates an amount that is offset by the difference of their individual contract. If the amount is less than the difference, this amount is offset, if it is greater than the individual amount then the additional amount is paid from 1.1.2024 depending on their seniority.
The relevant amendment will be submitted within the next few days to be voted on on Thursday or Friday as Labor Minister Adonis Georgiadis said so that it becomes law of the state as quickly as possible and there is no concern in the market about how it will be implemented.
The increases
The increases start at 78 euros and go up to 234 euros and will come earlier for veterans with significant service before February 14, 2012 and later for younger employees, depending on the maturity stage of their right.
According to the proposed regulation, new employees, i.e. those hired after 2/14/2012, will start to “count” seniority (and therefore the right to a 10% bonus) for the first time in 2024. So upon completion of the first three years, that is, in 2027, they will receive the allowance. For those who already secured seniority in 2012, but did not complete three years, their time will continue to count from 2024. The freeze applies only to employees covered by active collective agreements.
However, the government’s proposed regulation includes two “brakes”:
1. Prohibits retroactive claims by employees for the period between 2/14/2012 to 12/31/2023
2. Those employees who have already seen increases in their salaries, in the period 2012 -2023, which exceed the current ones, then they are set off against those paid and the employer is not obliged to give any seniority allowance.
Examples
In more detail – as the Ministry of Labor points out – for all employees in the private sector, the counting opens from 1.1.24 and concerns all types of seniority increments, i.e. 3 years at the bottom or 3 years, 5 years or other scales defined in active collective agreements .
From 1.1.2024:
A. For those who entered the labor market after 14.2.2012 they will start to build up the right to benefit for the first time.
An employee who is currently paid the minimum from 1.1.24 will run out of time and will be entitled accordingly to 10% of seniority every three years. That is, 780 euros for 0 to 3 years, 858 euros for 3 to 6 years, 936 euros for 6 to 9 years and 1,014 with over 9 years
For those who were hired before 14.2.2012
1) Employee hired before 2012 and with 2 years of service: The right to accrual of the 1st three-year period is activated on 1.1.24 and becomes payable upon completion of the three-year period on 1.1.25 with a 10% increase on the then applicable basic salary.
2) Employee hired before 2012 and with 5 years of service: The 2nd three-year vesting right is activated on 1.1.24 and becomes payable upon completion of six years on 1.1.25 with a 20% increase on the then applicable basic salary (e.g. at today’s prices 780 +780×0.2=936)
3) Employee hired before 2012 and with 8 years of service: The right to vest in the 1st three years is activated on 1.1.24 and becomes payable upon completion of nine years on 1.1.25 with a 30% increase on the basic salary in force at the time (e.g. at today’s prices 780 +780×0.3=1014)
In the case of collective agreements, the above limits are adjusted according to the applicable level of basic salary and increment scale. Also in the event that the employees have already seen increases in salaries in the interim from 2012 to 2023, and they exceed the current ones in force either at the minimum or those defined in the SSE then they are set off against the payments.
It is recalled that according to ERGANI data, the average salary in our country is 1,190 euros, i.e. 52% above the minimum.
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