Ten answers to questions regarding the changes in working time, Pavlos Marinakis gives with his post on Facebook.

“”Greece implements six-day work! While the rest of the world is moving towards four-day work, Greece is going backwards!”. Because the fake news give and take let’s explain the truth in simple words because this arrangement not only does not change the working time in companies, but ensures the protection of labor rights. So what’s going on?’ says the government representative.

Mr. Marinakis formulates and answers the following questions:

“1. Was the five-day work and the 40-hour workday abolished in Greece from 1/7?

Answer: Of course not. After all, employees are the first to know that nothing has changed regarding their working hours and days.

2. Then what exactly is and to whom is the possibility of an extraordinary working day?

Answer: This is a regulation that only applies to businesses that operate continuously, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. That is, it concerns minimal businesses mainly non-stop industries. Exceptionally, it can be applied for businesses that operate 24 hours a day, 5 or 6 days a week, but only in case of increased workload and after first submitting a relevant declaration to the “Ergani” system.

3. So the conditions for workers in shops, supermarkets, offices, banks or services do not change?

Answer: No, absolutely no change. Workers, old or young, in trade, services, supermarkets, offices, etc. are not affected in the slightest.

4. So the five-day work system is not abolished?

Answer: No. The regulation in no way entails the abolition of the five-day work system. Constitutes a special condition for a specific and limited class businesses that come to cover an emergency that must be covered by specialized personnel.

5. Do you know that there are collective labor agreements between employees and employers that enable very specific industries with special characteristics such as catering, tourism, etc. to arrange the stipulated working hours of 40 hours for 5 days with an additional 6th day ;

Answer: It is valid. Certain branches of workers have agreed with employers, through Collective Labor Agreements, that they can work on the 6th day, with an extra day’s pay. The reason this has happened is the particular conditions of the service provided, as is, for example, the case of catering and tourism.

6. Does the new regulation extend this possibility to the entire labor market?

Answer: No! The new regulation in no way concerns the entire labor market. All it does is provide the possibility, under very specific conditions, for an exceptional day of extraordinary work. We repeat, it only concerns:

  • Businesses that operate 24/7, such as factories with rolling shifts.
  • Businesses that operate 5 or 6 days per 24 hours with rolling shifts. In fact, the enterprises of the second category, before making use of the extraordinary working day, must compulsorily declare their extra workload to ERGANI. Any employer who chooses to use the extraordinary day must pay a higher daily wage, increased by 40% to the employee if it is a Saturday and 115% if it is a Sunday or holiday. The cross-checking of the data within ERGANI and the checks by the Labor Inspectors are done to deal with any abuse or illegal use of the arrangement.

7. Yes, but we still see even a limited form of “six-day” work expanding to other industries as well…

Answer: This is not the case. The new arrangement is not a six-day job, it is an extraordinary working day, which applies under very specific conditions and only in an emergency for very specific businesses. Even so, there may be 24-hour businesses that operate on rolling shifts that, despite the fact that they now have the option of an emergency work day, never need to use it. All this regulation does is to cure the extensive undeclared work that affected workers’ rights and incomes.

8. In other countries, however, the four-day work is starting to be implemented, while in Greece we are going backwards…

Answer: The opposite happens. Greece is one of the first countries to have instituted it four-day work week under the Jobs Again Act precisely because we want a labor market that provides security but also flexibility to the employee.

9. Are there safeguards for workers?

Answer: Me the digital job card established by this government – a standing demand of the GSEE – which is now applied throughout the economy from this year, workers’ rights are protected from unpaid overtime. Ergani’s figures show a significant increase in reported overtime and therefore higher incomes for workers who already use a digital card.

10. And what about collective labor agreements? Are they increasing or decreasing?

Answer: The government believes in the value and usefulness of collective bargaining agreements because they protect and regulate the rights of workers and the obligations of employers. In recent years, the Collective Labor Agreements have increased and today they are in force 429 Collective Labor Agreements”.