Suggestion about redundancy without binding decisions

The issue of redundancy will eventually be discussed in today's cabinet, but no final decisions will be made, as they will be passed on to the Troika. The initial announcement was that it will not be discussed, since there was no agreement in the late-night cabiet meeting headed by finance minister Evangelos Venizelos.

The main problems are:

    * the number of reservists
    * the services from which they will be selected
    * whether there will be a simultaneous program for both the narrow and broader public sector
    * failure to establish objective and fair criteria to implement the measure

Within the past few weeks with the Troika away, ministers Reppas and Venizelos drafted three plans for the removal of public servants.

The first plan (a milder one) provided for “soft” removal and probably would not have included the narrow public sector. The second plan talked about a stricter removal process and the third plan was the roughest one, with direct layoffs.

As observed yesterday, these three plans should first be negotiated with the Troika, which has long been absent from the country. Thus, it was agreed that the cabinet could not approve something and then disagree about it with the auditors, and Venizelos asked to postpone the debate so that he could discuss the three projects with the auditors after today’s meeting.

Administrative reform minister Dimitris Reppas has already clarified that he will only accept objective criteria and not partisan ones. According to estimates so far, staff will be reduced by 3%, while the government estimates that by 2015 Greece will have 200mil fewer public employees.

The cabinet will also discuss the single payroll  

Reppas has already sent the draft for the singe payroll to Venizelos. It includes all new arrangements for promotion and recruitment, and how the new administrative pyramid will operate. The key design element is the institution of the State Employee. According to the plan, each public servant will not belong to any particular ministry, but to the State. The aim of this change is to facilitate transfers, control benefits and raises, as well as be able to use staff in senior positions, regardless of their service..

Regarding the economic issue, Venizelos committed himself to the notion that 80% of public employees will not be affected by the changes. According to information, they are mostly from the finance ministry, since they were the ones with the highest wages. Many government members and technocrats in the two ministries have already expressed their fear about a "white" strike. They also recognize the problems that will arise from a decision that will reduce, possibly by 40%, the wages of some employees, who enjoyed high earnings for years and will now be forced to change their lifestyle. In this case it is very likely that there will be a period of adjustment.

Reppas has also prepared the draft of the New State, which includes a 30% reduction in state structures. In this case, permanent positions will be eliminated and if they are vacant, and thus there won’t be a financial benefit for that service, the cuts will progress to the positions that are covered by employees.