By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

Instead of 1 liter of milk a day, the employees of OTA 1st and 2nd grades will now be able to receive €300 a year as a milk allowance if they are of course entitled to this benefit. This is provided for by a provision of the Ministry of the Interior’s bill entitled “Arrangements for land border posts, the strengthening of Local Government Organizations and other provisions” which was tabled for a vote in the Parliament.

The allowance is tax-free, non-assignable and non-disposable in his hands Public or third parties. It is also not subject to any withholding, fee or levy, is not tied to and is not set off against confirmed debts to the tax administration, insurance funds and the State in general and is not counted against the income limits for the payment of any social or welfare benefit.

Milk supply is about a lot more than one might think at first glance and it also has a lot of history behind it.

The allowance for milk is the article that gathered the most comments in the public consultation and they concern the OTAs. More people commented on milk than on the settlement of municipal and regional debts. They even commented on dairy companies who oppose the regulation as they consider it to be a blow to the industry since it will leave large quantities of milk unavailable.

The government claims, however, that the milk never reached its beneficiaries, or at least arrived with a long delay. The debtors, due to the bureaucratic difficulties, were typically slow to complete the tenders and find suppliers, with the result that one year’s milk was supplied the next day at best.

In some cases, the OTAs at the end of the year valued the milk that they had not given in cash.

There were not a few examples, as the trade unions of the workers in the municipalities have denounced, that the local rulers were simply not interested in providing them with what they were entitled to in any form.

A situation that continued even after its regulation, the Ministry of the Interior in July 2017 banned payment in cash. And after the central government saw and relented, it legalized the situation that had been consolidated with the €300 allowance.

The long-suffering provision has its origins in laws of 1982, 1985 and 1989 when the PASOK and ND-Coalition governments attempted to improve the safety and health conditions of public sector workers. There is talk of PPE or Personal Protective Equipment to which milk also belongs.

Based on these legislative initiatives, a decree was issued in October 2006 which stipulated that all permanent employees of OTAs, depending on their job position, must be granted the following:

Gloves (leather, welder’s, disposable, etc.)
Helmets
Goggles – Protective masks
Breathing protection masks
Protective Clothing (vests, aprons, fireproof suits, etc.)
Footwear (wellies, boots, diving suit)
Other means of protection such as hats, visors, knee pads and earplugs
Everyone who is entitled to any of the above should be given 1 liter of milk every day and in the workplace.

A list of mandatory medical examinations is also provided at least once a year

Indicatively and according to an announcement by the municipality of Kos, in March 2021, of the 621 employees it employed at the time, 380 – 6 in 10 – were entitled to 1 liter of milk per day.

Or else – after the passing of the bill – €300/year.