The bill currently under consideration regarding equal pay for men and women performing the same work, the employment programs of the Public Employment Service (DYPA), and the implementation of the National Social Agreement were the focus of an interview given by the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Niki Kerameos, to MEGA.
According to the relevant announcement, the minister referred to the two major programs of the Public Employment Service (PES) with a strong social focus that are currently underway. The first is called 55+ and is aimed at people over 55 who are looking for work.
“You may find yourself out of work at an age when it’s difficult to re-enter the job market. We, as the Ministry of Labor, are stepping in to subsidize employment for our fellow citizens aged 55 and older who are unemployed.
“As you know, many of them are just a few years away from meeting the retirement requirements and have valuable experience to offer—for example, in public organizations, municipalities, regional authorities, and hospitals,” said Ms. Kerameos.
As she explained, this is a program that has benefited more than 30,000 of our fellow citizens to date, and it will soon be expanded once again.
The second program, which has been expanded once again and is currently underway, is aimed at our fellow citizens with disabilities, who are given the opportunity to work in municipalities and regional authorities across the country. “Many of them have experience; they simply struggle to break into the job market, and that’s where we come in to help them,” said the minister.
Ms. Kerameos also referred to the bill, currently under consideration, on equal pay for equal work between men and women. “This is a bill that transposes a European directive stipulating that your pay should be determined by your work and your value, and under no circumstances by your gender. It is not intended to suggest that men and women are all equal and therefore should be paid the same,” said the minister, emphasizing that despite the positive steps that have been taken, a pay gap still exists in both Greece and Europe.
According to the data she provided, women in Greece are paid 13.4% less, while in Europe the corresponding figure is 11%.
Referring to the content of the bill, the minister noted that, prior to hiring, it stipulates that job postings must be gender-neutral, that the employer must disclose the the salary range prior to the interview, while after hiring, it provides greater access to information so that individuals can determine whether there are unjustified disparities.
“If two employees—a man and a woman—hold the same position, but the man has more years of experience, better degrees, and more qualifications, he will obviously be paid more. What does the bill say? That for the same job, the same responsibilities, and the same qualifications, a woman cannot be paid less simply because she is a woman. That is the philosophy of the European directive.”
As Ms. Kerameos noted, if an unjustified pay disparity is found, the employee may file a complaint, while large companies with more than 100 employees are required to submit periodic reports on their pay structures, though not on an individual basis.
Referring to the event held last week in Brussels on the National Social Agreement, the Minister emphasized that “an event was held in which the European Commission and the Greek Government participated because Europe said the following: A year ago, let’s be honest, Greece had enormous room for improvement; in essence, it wasn’t doing well with collective bargaining agreements. A year later, Greece is a source of inspiration, in the words of the Vice President of the European Commission regarding collective bargaining agreements, and I hope other member states will follow this example.”
Finally, Ms. Kerameos pointed out that following the signing of the Agreement and its enactment into law, we already have the first collective bargaining agreements, noting that “for example, in the restaurant industry, we had the first collective bargaining agreement that led to wage increases of up to 20%—do you know how many workers that affected? 400,000 workers. That’s about 15% of the country’s wage earners.”