Great income decrease for public servants

After the statements by Venizelos on the sweeping changes in the public sector, which dramatically affected workers with average and higher salaries, strong reactions are expected on the part of public servants.

individual divergence was just a dream, since the finance minister stressed that there will be "equal pay for equal qualifications and equal work", essentially confirming that the Troika vetoed any trick departing from the single payroll.

This means a dramatic reduction in total income, especially for cases such as employees in tax and customs, the ministry of transport, OSYPA etc. For example, if an employee with a basic salary of 1.000 euros and a bonus of 900, were to be entered in the 1.600-euro scale under the new pay scale, the government drafted legislation under which he would have had a 300-euro individual divergence, the amount between old and new salaries that is, which would have been received through some form of allowance.

This difference does not exist now, while the Troika did not accept the transitional period of nine months that would have followed after the mergers and abolitions of organizations.

So, after the changes in organizations, employees in the public sector and those with permanent contracts will go directly to "labor reserve" and will go before ASEP. If they do not possess the necessary skills to be transferred – or opt for voluntary redundancy if they are near retirement – they are threatened with dismissal.

Venizelos also announced that he will introduce productivity benefits not only for supervisors and managers, but also for junior staff, which will be "measurable" and issued when the employee "reaches" certain goals of the service.

Based on the announcements however, we are headed straight for the abolition of the "ministerial officer" concept, which will be replaced by that of "the state official." The method of payment and transfers of employees as we knew it will change along with this concept.

The government's intention is to gather the pay records of servants belonging to the narrow public sector at the ministry of finance, in order to provide centralized management of earnings. Thus, it will attempt to treat fairly employees who have a common portfolio in different ministries so that they enjoy the same wages and benefits if they meet the set goals.

An additional "facilitation" brought on by this development will be in ts of transfers. Until today, an ASEP contest would decide the fate of a vacant ministry position, while another department which was overstaffed could have covered the specific position. After the change, it will be possible to move an employee from one department to another through a simple decree.

The government hopes that through this method, it will be able to curb the increasing number of civil servants and increase the productivity of their work.