At March 22 as everything shows, the final proposal will be made on the level of the minimum wage in our country, which will come into force from March 1, as the Prime Minister has also stated Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

According to statements by the Deputy Minister of Labour Vasilis Spanakis in ERT, the minimum wage will have the number “8” in front, however, its final amount remains to be determined.

“March will be a positive month for many issues. First of all, on March 22nd there will be a proposal, as provided for by the relevant provision of the Minister of Labor, Mrs. Michailidou, to the Council of Ministers, where this proposal results from a specific procedure for increasing the minimum wage and the minimum wage will be 8. Let us emphasize that this is the fourth minimum wage increase brought by the Mitsotakis government. We see that at the moment the minimum wage after several years begins and enters an upward path, where this affects at least 25 benefits, maternity, unemployment and many other important ones.

Mind you, that’s not all. It is that here we have a series of positive developments. So what we noticed, even before the government announced the new increase in the minimum wage, we see a lot of companies that increased the starting wage by themselves.

What is our aim, to increase the average salary and reach 1,500 euros by the end of the four-year period. So, the increase in the minimum wage and the average wage which is currently at 1,251 euros, we have a route to go to 1,500 euros. These two government goals that were our pre-election commitments, we see that they are in a good process.

Let’s go to the extent to which we fulfill our pre-election commitments. And I say this because we will have European elections and we will all be judged whether we implement what we say or not”, he emphasized.

Referring to unemployment, Mr. Spanakis emphasized that “Greece is now talking about job vacancies. So, we currently have jobs that are not filled. In other words, there are employers who are listening to us right now and especially in the tourist areas who are currently very anxious to find workers. So Greece has left the high unemployment rates and we have gone to a Greece of job vacancies that we have to fill. So, the Ministry of Labor’s bet has changed.

According to Greek statistical authoritywith the service of ELSTAT we have the following, we have a reduction in January 24 in unemployment for both women and young people.

The average salary today has gone to 1,251 euros when we came to the helm of the country as New Democracy, it was much lower and at the moment we have a clear target and we will achieve it.

The main objective of the government is to bring an increase in the disposable income of the workers. We are also taking a lot of actions from the Public Employment Service to be able to match, to marry the needs of the labor market with education.

And here is the big bet. We have here new specialties that the labor market needs. Let me tell you just one example that we have a 16% increase in business compared to previous years.
Therefore, the needs for employee specialties have multiplied.”

A big issue that concerns a significant number of employees concerns the implementation of the three years, which were reactivated from January 1, 2024. Mr. Spanakis emphasized that “it means the seniority allowance or the three-year allowance that an employee has. When did they freeze, February 14, 2012. What the government said. That from January 1, 2024 they thaw.

So if an employee had on February 14, for example, 2.5 years and had not received the seniority bonus, the three-year bonus from January 1, 2024 counts as one semester to cover the three years and get the three-year increase. The payment of the three years is mandatory, it is not optional and if an employer does not comply with the payment of the three years, there are administrative and criminal sanctions controlled by the Labor Inspectorate”.

As for the working pensionershe said:

“The platform for those pensioners who want to go to work has been put into operation and Mr. Spanakis commented: “In 2019, what did we receive? When someone wanted to work they had a 60% cut in their pension.
60% went to 30% and we did it a few months ago. 0% So a pensioner who wants to work will have 0% withheld from his pension.

They must declare it on the platform and those who are to work from now on must also declare it on the platform. This platform opened last Monday. 25,000 retired workers have already joined.

We estimated that by the end of December we had 34,000 to 35,000 pensioners who were already working. In fact, now, at this moment, we estimate that in 2024 the number will go much higher. It can even reach the 100,000 retired workers who will be working.

I ask, someone says well, but will he take the place of a young person today where the unemployment rates are. A young person is not in danger of not finding a job from a pensioner. On the contrary, the retired worker can give his experience and be indispensable, continue for a while and improve beyond his pension and the system”.

For pensions stated:

“Regarding the pension, what we are doing now is progressing. There are old pensions that have been left behind. Look and see, the big volume is gone, the pensions outstanding are greatly reduced, the ancillaries are also following. We have passed several provisions, such as, for example, the supplementary pensions of civil servants, which saw 11,000 supplementary pensions issued in one day. We are on a very good path.

Listen for the last time and for 1555 I want to say that they have thousands of calls and we can answer them and we are also entering into a process of being able to tell those who are about to retire now so that the problem does not arise when establish the right to retire, to be able to know from now on what papers, what documents they need to present so that their retirement is not delayed”.