They are looking for and do not find staff for the season rental accommodation

By Vicky Kourlimbini

The letter sent by the Confederation of Tourist Accommodation Entrepreneurs of Greece to the Ministers of Labor and Social Affairs Konstantinos Hatzidakis and Finance Christos Staikouras, in which legislative intervention is requested so that they can work in the tourism industry for summer and summer education, caused a sensation.

The purpose of the proposal is to address the great shortage of staff in tourism, which becomes more and more intense as arrivals and bookings at hotels increase and we walk towards the “heart” of summer.

According to SETKE, despite the fact that efforts have been made to find workers in tourism and incentives have been given, such as the signing of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which provides for a 3% increase in salaries this year and an additional 4% for next year, they have not performed and this problem remains unsolved.

“However, there is a strong interest in work, both from young retirees who have the ability (physical and mental) to work, and from teachers who either do not work during the summer months or want to have parallel employment,” the letter reads. of.

For retirees, the proposal of the accommodation is that there should be no 30% reduction in their pension for the months they will work in the tourism sector and for teachers to be able to provide parallel work regardless of their existing employment relationships – contracts. In addition, both social groups should be taxed for the income they will receive.

The lack of staff is at its peak

The lack of staff in tourism had already begun to be felt from the beginning of spring when the hotel units were starting their planning for this year’s tourist season. Tourist organizations had attributed the difficulty of staffing the places in the pandemic and in particular to the change of orientation of the employees.

It is estimated that the vacancies in the tourist area they reached fifty thousand. The pandemic, as local entrepreneurs explain, played an important role, as many workers turned to different occupations, with more permanence, better pay and fewer working hours.

All this at a time when the demand for holidays is peaking and everything shows that in terms of arrivals we will reach pre-pandemic levels, while revenues are estimated to reach 15 billion euros, covering much of the 18 billion euros brought by tourism in 2019.

It is noted that the tourism companies could submit until May 31 the vacancies and related specialties in the platform of the Public Employment Service (DYPA). Then the labor counselors of DYPA will nominate the unemployed who meet the relevant conditions in the companies, to fill the positions until June 15.