Labor Min. meets with Hellenic Confederation of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (ESEE)

The launch of improvement interventions in a series of important issues that fall under the competence of the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Mr. Adonis Georgiadis, was requested by the President of the ESEE, Mr. Giorgos Karanikas, in the meeting between them, which took place in a particularly constructive atmosphere today, Thursday, August 03, 2023, at the Ministry of Labour. The meeting was attended by the Deputy Ministers Panagiotis Tsakloglou and Vassilis Spanakis, the General Secretary of Labor Relations Ms. Anna Stratinaki, and the Director of ESEE Mr. Antonis Megoulis.

The President of ESEE pointed out that the formation of a new development model is possible for the Greek economy through the strengthening of the institutional, financial and insurance support of small and medium enterprises and their owners. He emphasized that the upgrading of the labor market presupposes the strengthening of the tripartite social dialogue structures and the restoration of the participation of the social partners in the formulation of employment policies. He recalled the pivotal role of Commerce, in which more than 724,000 quality jobs were registered in 2022, corresponding to 17.4% of employees in the private sector. He even noted that in the same year the turnover in the retail trade amounted to 51.3 billion Euros, i.e. 11.1% of the total turnover of the economy.

Set of proposals

In this light, Mr. Karanikas presented a set of proposals in the institutional, labor and insurance fields, focusing mainly on the following necessary interventions:

· Returning the authority to determine the amount of the minimum wage to the social partners, with the reinstatement of their increased participation in the composition of the Board of Directors of the Public employment Service- D.YP.A, as well as the reactivation of the Labor Inspection Social Control Council.

· Establishment of a new regulatory framework for debt settlement, adapted to the needs of the market, based on the low interest of debtors both for the regulation that gives the possibility of reincorporation/revival of lost insurance arrangements (72 & 120 installments), as well as for that of its debts from the Energy crisis (72 doses).

Abolition of the Self-Employed and Independently Employed Aid (unemployment contribution), which to date has not met its mission or, in the case of its stay, abolition of the income criteria and flexibility of its performance conditions.

· Suspension of all compulsory e-EFKA property tax and Social Security Debt Collection Center’s  collection measures for debtors with debts of up to 30,000 euros and until the stabilization of annual inflationary pressures at +2% levels.

· Activation of the “white” insurance register of companies and with parallel discounts for consistent entrepreneurs (on a permanent basis subsidizing new hires, granting tax deductions, etc.).

· Changes aimed at improving the application framework of the Digital Work Card with adjustments that will respond to the fact that the industry includes, in the vast majority, a large dispersion and a small size of enterprises.