With the commitment that the political leadership of the Ministry of Labor will ensure that all milestones are met so that by the end of March it will propose to the cabinet the new minimum wage, the responsible minister, Domna Michailidou, presented to the Plenary of the Parliament the amendment for the increase of the minimum wage. The amendment is expected to be voted on tomorrow in the bill to deal with fan violence and as Mrs. Michailidou pointed out, the aim is for the minimum wage to start at the beginning of April, so that it can be implemented during the summer season. “This is a period, which economically and developmentally concerns our country very much and many of our fellow citizens work in it, so we want them to be covered, especially those who are not currently covered by collective agreements”, he explained.

Domna Michailidou emphasized that this regulation comes after a process which is applied in 21 of the 27 EU countries and as a result of a dialogue with the social partners, representatives of employees and employers.

“It is our duty to all Greek women and men to reap in a fair way, the dividend of development, for wages to rise, for pensions to rise, for our unemployed fellow citizens to be able to have more and well-paid jobs and above all for the state to continue to invest in social cohesion. This is our bet for the four years: incomes to strengthen and why not exceed the average incomes in the EU” he said.

Referring to the government’s goal, she said that it concerns the minimum wage to reach 950 euros at the end of the four-year period and o average salary to reach 1500 euros.

He noted that a few years ago, in terms of the minimum wage, we were at the bottom of Europe and now we are in 10th place among EU member states.

“We continue. And we can’t stop there. We will continue, always within the permissible fiscal limits and taking into account the endurance of the economy and businesses” he noted and added that today’s increase, however, is important not only for our fellow citizens, who are affected by the minimum wage, but it is important for many our fellow citizens, who receive benefits (eg maternity, parental leave, active employment schemes such as community service) and government benefits – 19 to be exact – which are linked to the minimum wage.

“With honest and unhindered dialogue with the social partners, we improve everyone’s daily life, we converge on the European reality without putting a brake on the economy and competitiveness of our country,” concluded Mrs. Michailidou.