Reinstatement of minimum monthly salary at 751 euros
New Labor Minister Panos Skourletis announced on Wednesday the immediate restoration of the negotiation process for collective labor contracts and the Organization for Mediation and Arbitration (OMED), along with the reinstatement of the minimum monthly salary of 751 euros.
Admitting that his policies will be at loggerheads with those of his predecessor and the bailout agreements, Skourletis stated that his work will be very difficult as he was taking over the ministry from Yiannis Vroutsis.
He said the reinstatement of the minimum salary at 751 euros is the ministry’s central target, and that the implementation of the measure will be combined with a series of other policies that will facilitate the operation of enterprises and help them become sustainable, such as the restructuring of their debts to the tax authorities and social security funds.
The new minister acknowledged there are specific objections to that strategy by the business world, especially from small and medium-sized enterprises, as they say that the cost would be huge and they would not be able to respond to a hike in the minimum salary.
