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Countdown to the new increase in the minimum wage

By Dimitris Katsaganis

The next, third stage in a row, enters the process of re-determining the minimum wage from today, after specialized scientific and research bodies submit to the coordination committee their evaluation report for the minimum wage.

The relevant invitation was sent by the said committee. Immediately after the sending of the reports, the memorandum will be forwarded and the documentation of each person consulted by the Coordination Committee to the other representatives of the social partners (BSE, GSEVEE, GSEE, etc.), with an invitation for oral consultation, will take place no later than March 15, 2022.

The transmission of all the memoranda and the documentation of the consultants as well as the report of the bodies to the Center for Planning and Economic Research (KEPE) for the preparation of a Draft Consultation Finding will take place no later than March 31, 2022.

The draft consultation conclusion will be completed by 15 April 2022 at the latest.

The suggestion of the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs to the Council of Ministers for the determination of the minimum wage of the employees and the minimum wage of the craftsmen will take place within the last fortnight of April 2022.

It is recalled that in his recent statements, the Prime Minister, Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has announced that the next increase in the minimum wage (after the 2% increase from January 1, 2022) will take effect from May 1. All the information so far contributes to the scenario of the increase of the minimum wage by 6%, so that the gross minimum wage reaches approximately 700 euros.

The front of the three years

At the same time, the three-year front remains open. Legal circles with which Capital.gr came in contact distance themselves from those views that interpret the decisions of the Council of State (CoC), which were leaked, as a precursor to the thawing of three years in the private sector.

According to the same sources, the CoC would not judge the “thaw” of the “three years”, as this has been judged. The “three years” will be frozen until unemployment falls to 10%, emphasize these circles in Capital.gr.

The CoE would judge whether they exist in the way provided for in the circular of the former Minister of Labor Efi Ahtsioglou. It is recalled that this circular gave instructions for the implementation of the new minimum wage of 650 euros (from February 1, 2019) and the payment of three years to employees and craftsmen across the country.

SEV, with its appeal to the CoC in 2019 – after the circular argued that according to the legislation of 2012-2014, the “three years”, not only have “frozen” for those who had registered them in 2012, but have been abolished.

Therefore, the already increased salaries in 2012 due to the previous service of those who were hired at least since 2009, should remain at that level, while none of those hired after 2012, should not and should not receive an increase due to previous service. He is entitled to an increase only on the minimum wage as a “unit value”.

Therefore, according to BSE, it is illegal to increase by 11% the minimum wage of those who had secured “three years” in 2012 or even after 2012 and specifically after 2014 (s.s. and thus already had increased up to 30% of the minimum wage their), so the issue was legally clarified, as since then the legislated minimum wage is understood as “a single reference value (amount)”.

As far as the mentioned Ahtsioglou circular is concerned, the CoE, the same sources note, states that it is not binding and in this respect rejects the appeal of SEV.

More specifically, the decision of the CoC, based on the leaks, provides that the Ahtsioglou circular:

– provided instructions “on the application of the minimum wage and the minimum wage for employees and craftsmen throughout the country” is a purely interpretative circular and can not be challenged in the SC.

– “it is not enforceable because it has the character of an interpretative circular” and adding that with the circular in question the Ministry of Labor provides suggestions for the correct application and compliance of the current legal framework, but these suggestions “are not in themselves binding on the recipients and they are not a legal obligation for them “.

According to the same decision, “there are no binding legal consequences from the indications concerning the amount of remuneration payable, and the contested act is not therefore an enforceable administrative act”.

In fact, the reasoning of the decision clarifies that employers “may not comply with the content of the circular by assuming responsibility for any penalties provided by law, in case their actions will not be actually legal”, the same court decision adds.

Regarding the position of the Ministry of Labor, with its announcement, it clarifies that “it is known to all that the government of New Democracy had intervened since 2019 in the CoE in favor of the disputed circular, opposing the appeal of employers’ associations!

This position was recently repeated in an announcement of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs on the occasion of the decision to increase the minimum wage.

Let the attempt to confuse and obscure the workers stop. The government’s position on the issue is crystal clear. And our answers to all this are given and will be given in practice with the significant reduction of unemployment compared to 2019, the attraction of investments in the country, the tripling of the pace of OAED programs for new jobs and the new, substantial increase of the minimum forthcoming salary “.

Source: Capital

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