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A year of structural changes in labor and insurance matters could be characterized as 2021, since from the first months the government is expected to promote significant interventions both in the structure of the national labor market, with a focus on promoting flexibility in time and in work place. as well as in the structure of the insurance system, with the capitalization of supplementary pensions.
These are two important interventions, emblematic for the government, which are expected to bring significant changes in the functioning of the labor market severely injured due to the coronavirus pandemic, but also in the insurance system, with dozens of other domestic pathogens from the past and global problems to bother you. They are expected to provoke strong reactions, as for these two issues, the opposition and the unions speak of unilateral interventions at the core of union action and free collective bargaining, but also about the privatization of the Insurance. On the other hand, the government says it is determined to proceed with the reforms “with a positive imprint on competitiveness and growth” and with the aim of “correcting injustices and obsolete entanglements.”
In both cases, the leadership of the Ministry of Labor, namely the Minister of Labor Giannis Vroutsis and the Deputy Minister Panos Tsakloglou, each according to their area of responsibility, have opened their papers.
Analytically, one of the main interventions in the workplace refers to working up to 10 hours a day, without affecting the total number of hours of annual employment and, consequently, the amount of salary. Flexibility in working hours can be decided under certain conditions, most likely by the Supreme Labor Council (SEC), or even after an individual employee-employer agreement. The final form of the intervention has not yet been “blocked”. According to Mr. Vroutsis, the objective of the changes promoted is, among other things, to facilitate employees and companies in organizing the time between personal and professional life in a balanced way, as well as organizing production in a way that enables creation Of jobs. job.
In practice, the new intervention refers to the implementation of the existing regulations for the regulation of working time, but for most companies it remains inactive, since it is not possible to sign a commercial agreement with the corresponding association. The solution that seems to be gaining ground is the intervention of the ASE, to which one of the two parties will resort (most likely the employer) to examine whether the conditions set by a company each time and to be approved or rejected, the application of 8 hours flexible. Thus, for example, when there is an increase in orders during the year and the need for additional work on the part of the staff, the company may request and receive approval from the ASE. Employees will be employed for a period of up to 10 hours per day and in another period (reduced employment period) they will work fewer hours respectively, or they will be granted a corresponding daily rest (break), or a combination of reduced working hours and rest days . In any case, however, the daily work cannot exceed 10 hours, while at the same time the employer must comply with the provisions of the labor law on mandatory daily and weekly rest.
Among the changes promoted is the increase in legal overtime, probably more than 120 hours per year that is currently valid for commerce, while the limit will be uniform for all industries.
There are also suggestions for adding – some – companies and jobs to the list that already allows working on Sundays.
Likewise, based on the plan, the distinction of severance pay between wage earners and artisans will be eliminated and the right, after the notice of dismissal and until then, the employer to ask the employee not to come to work will be institutionalized, but of course that get paid.
Strikes
In the part of the union law, among other things, changes are promoted such as the inventory condition in the General Register already legislated for the exercise of union rights but also the provision of electronic voting in the General Assembly of the unions, especially for the decision to strike.
Changes are also made to the strike notice, since according to the plan, the requests and the reasons that establish them must be mentioned, while the occupation of spaces and accesses and the exercise of psychological or physical violence will be prohibited. If there is occupation or obstruction of work, the strike will be declared illegal. Those who do not engage in occupation or violence will be penalized. Finally, a significant increase of 40% is foreseen for security personnel who will have to work in the event of a strike in companies whose operation is critical for society as a whole, in the State, local authorities and the NPDD.
Digital job card
Likewise, it is expected that the same reform will promote important interventions, such as the digital work card for online monitoring of the real working day, institutional shielding of telework, maternity leave of 14 working days for the father, additional parental leave of 6 months up to that the child turns 8 years old for all fathers and mothers who have not yet received the 6-month maternity protection benefit, leave to care for a defenseless father, son, brother, spouse or partner, as well as protection for the new parents against dismissal, for 2 months from the birth of the first child, 4 for the 2nd and 6 for each subsequent.
Changes are also promoted in the operation of the Labor Inspections and OMED, since the conciliation of collective differences will leave the responsibilities of the Labor Inspections and will be assigned to OMED. In turn, the right to collective bargaining will be recognized only in organizations that are registered in legalized digital records.
The bet of the new auxiliary insurance
The establishment of a new public insurance fund that will manage the government’s great commitment to the full capitalization of auxiliary insurance, includes the planning of the Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Panos Tsakloglou. It is expected that the insurance reform will be promoted to a vote in Parliament within the first 6 months of the new year, with the aim of preparing the entire project on the one hand, and the detailed information of the insured on the other. Therefore, according to the plan, the new scheme will work for the new insured, starting on January 1, 2022.
Under the new system, a new Public Fund will be created, which will have exclusive responsibility for managing individual accounts, that is, contributions from policyholders.
The new supplementary insurance system will compulsorily include new participants from the public and private sectors, who will enter the labor market for the first time from 1/1/2022 onwards. New self-employed workers who enter the labor market for the first time and are employed in sectors where auxiliary insurance is currently mandatory (eg engineers, lawyers). All current employees (salaried and self-employed) up to the age of 35, as well as new entrants to the labor market after 1/1/2022 without compulsory auxiliary insurance today (eg farmers, self-employed) will be able to join voluntarily. ). Current policyholders over 35 years of age will not be able to join, even voluntarily.
The new Fund will be able to work with specialized fund managers to invest the accumulated capital of contributions in bonds, stocks and other investment products, “under a strict control and supervision framework”, while providing a “maximum exposure by type of investment for have market risk dispersion “.
As revealed by “K”, three investment profiles will be created, low, medium and high risk, and the insured will be able to choose where to place their “piggy bank”. Most likely, the medium risk profile will be the default, in case an insured does not choose how to position himself, while the degree of risk will necessarily decrease as the age increases and the time of retirement approaches.
The board of directors of the new Fund will be made up of people of great prestige and great professional competence, experience and knowledge in the matter.
The government hopes that with individual accounts and the creation of a culture of transparency, the confidence of young people in the social security system will be restored, while incentives for declared “black” work will disappear. According to Mr. Tsakloglou, the returns from funded systems “in the long run are much higher than the returns from distribution systems.”
The new company is also expected to provoke strong reactions with a more important argument from critics of the reform, the so-called transition costs. This is because the change from one system to another will gradually create a growing financial gap in the old system, as the inflows for the payment of pensions will be drastically reduced.
