ADEDY: Public sector salaries decreased by 17.1% in 2010-2020

Public sector wages decreased by 17.1% in the decade 2010-2020, according to a study by the Social Multicenter of ADEDY.

According to this study, “the overall picture of the wage and working conditions of workers in the Greek public sector in the period since the outbreak of the Greek crisis until today is bleak. In the context of austerity policies imposed by the EU-ECB Economic Adjustment Programs – IMF – and whose commitments are being pursued to this day – both employment and wage conditions have deteriorated dramatically in the Greek public sector. , 1% in real terms.

However, this dramatic deterioration is not limited to the general index but also concerns the increase in wage inequalities between the various categories of public sector workers. Typically, the salaries of senior executives and managers are reduced less than those of all other categories. The same tendency exists for the benefit of employees who exercise supervisory duties over those who do not. In addition, the wage gap to the detriment of women is increasing. Accordingly, overall the wage distribution shifts downwards as the percentage of lower paid civil servants increases.

It is noteworthy that a disproportionately large burden of wage cuts is borne by the education and public administration sectors where wage cuts are more pronounced. This grim picture becomes more pronounced when comparing the wages of employees in the Greek public sector with those of both the EU and the Eurozone as well as the Eurozone countries that have been placed under Economic Adjustment Programs. During the period 2008-2020, the average salary in the public sector in Greece decreased by 25.6%, while in the Eurozone it increased by 21.4% and in the EU by 23.8%.

The uniqueness of the amount of the negative adjustment of the salary of civil servants in Greece stands out even in comparison with the other Eurozone countries that have been imposed Economic Adjustment Programs 40. Always for the period 2008-2020, Cyprus shows an increase of 6.3%, Portugal by 5.2%, while only Ireland shows a decrease of 6.5% (which again is significantly lower than the Greek impairment by 25 , 6%). Similar to most other countries in this category, Spain (where only one financial sector program was implemented) the average public sector wage also increased by 6.3%,

In contrast to the Eurozone countries, in many Eurocentric countries there are impressive increases in the average wage in the public sector. Indicatively, for the period 2008-2020, we have increases of the average salary in the public sector in Germany by 37.2%, in the Netherlands by 29.8% and in France by 21.8%.

On the question of whether or not public sector workers are a burden on public revenue (an argument strongly supported by government centers), it turns out that over time – with the exception of a short period before the crisis – public sector workers contribute more in public revenue than they receive through redistribution processes.

This bleak picture of the wage conditions of public sector employees in Greece is further exacerbated if the current broader macroeconomic conditions are taken into account. The explosive increase in inflation in 2022 and the fact that it is not a temporary phenomenon (as in addition to conjunctural possibly it also has deeper structural causes) foreshadows an even greater deterioration of the income position of workers in the Greek public sector.

The immediate improvement of their wage conditions is a critical issue not only for the employees in the public sector and their trade union movement but also for the Greek society and economy in general. The public sector has once again demonstrated its strategic and pivotal role in the crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Without his fundamentally smooth and effective intervention, the effects of the crisis would have been much worse.

The working conditions and remuneration of employees in this sector is a critical element of its effective operation. Finally, a potentially important support in reorganizing the position of employees in the public sector is the institutionalization of a collective bargaining process in the public sector. In our country this process 41 is absent as it is subject to the formulation of the wider government revenue policy. This weakens the trade union movement as it deprives it of a basic claim mechanism. “The examples of countries where this institution exists show that it provides better working conditions and wages for public sector workers.”