Administrative Reform Minister Antonis Manitakis is considering bringing in a law that will bypass the need for mayors to approve the induction of employees into a redundancy scheme, Kathimerini understands.

Of the 2,000 civil servants that the government has promised its foreign creditors to put in a fast-track program for redundancy, 1,000 are expected to come from municipal and regional offices and the other 1,000 from state entities that are either overstaffed or due to be merged or abolished.

Another possibility being considered by Manitakis, sources say, is putting all employees due to retire before the end of 2013 into a labor reserve scheme which would see them receiving a heavily docked wage for a year before their dismissal.

Resistance to the redundancy scheme has been most vehement among municipal staff, with several mayors across the country refusing to submit to the ministry lists of employees to join the scheme.

The government is concerned that if it fails to put 2,000 employees into the fast-track redundancy program by the end of the year, the troika may demand as many as 15,000 random immediate dismissals.