«Unpaid 10 hours, wage cut and cheap overtime brings the new labour bill of the κ. Hatzidakis, and shall in addition apply universally henceforth the individual employment contracts», «in short, the 8-hour day is abolished and unpaid overtime is introduced, even on dismantled control mechanisms», said the spokesman of SYRIZA - Progressive Alliance, Nassos Iliopoulos, in statements to ERT1 and the radio station Real FM 97,8.
Mr.Iliopoulos accused the government that the bill «puts backs to employers who want to violate labour laws», as he said, «the so-called working time arrangement clearly means a reduction in wages». In particular he said: «Where an employee used to be paid overtime, now he will no longer be paid for it. This is because he will simply get a promise of time off. But if one does a simple survey of how much time off and how many holidays are owed to private sector workers by their employers - without ever having been given - one will see what the reality is.».
He stressed that «more and cheaper overtime, especially in areas such as industry, will bring more accidents at work». He also said that the bill establishes a «broken four-hour work period» which «constitutes an 8-hour intermittent work period», stressing that «the employer will not recruit full-time because it will cover its needs with the workers it already has -with cheaper overtime- or it will take part-time workers.» He called the argument of control through the digital job card «anecdotal», saying that «digital working hours and digital overtime have already been passed since 2017 and within this framework more than 6 million hours of overtime were declared and paid for the first time». He stressed that «the main opponent of digital working hours at the time was SEV, whose central executive - Mr Skertos - is now the right hand of Mr Mitsotakis».
The representative of the SYRIZA said that in the period 2015-2019 more than €50 million in accruals were paid to workers without giving money to lawyers and courts because simply the labour inspection did her job. On the contrary, he noted that «the first thing the Mitsotakis government did was to dismantle it» and that «it has reduced the fines of the labour inspectorate so much, it has given a clear signal in favour of employer delinquency in the labour market».
He stressed, among other things, that «the bet for SYRIZA-P.S. is to deepen the programmatic debate and to promote a plan for social justice, for a life with security both in the workplace and in the health field». He referred to polling data that, he said, echoed «our majority proposals for the regulation of private debts, the freezing of the bankruptcy law and even the requisition of private clinics.» He referred to the latest Eurobarometer «which shows that by 71% there is no confidence in the Greek government and people are afraid for their economic prospects».
About pandemic, said that «we experienced a peculiar and failed lockdown. Since the start of the second wave we have mourned over 10,900 of our fellow citizens», because «the government never really prepared for the pandemic». «Mr Mitsotakis has been counting victories for a year, declaring the end of the battle with the coronavirus, when society is counting defeats. Unfortunately, it behaves like a tourist in our own country, since is proceeding without a plan for health and the economy», he commented.
Regarding crime issues, he said that «since taking over the Mitsotakis government, three special guard corps have been set up without the training to deal with organised crime; and instead of the police dealing with organised crime, they were chasing people in the squares, controlling the absurdity of texting and giving protection to Furthiotis».
