Fewer than 10,000 leave civil service in gov’t scheme
Just under 10,000 civil servants were removed from the public sector using the labor reserve scheme, Deputy Administrative Reform Minister Dinos Rovlias informed Parliament on Monday.
The scheme, which allowed workers to earn 60 percent of their salary for a year without coming in to work but with a view to them being fired, was launched last year after months of debate in the Cabinet.
Rovlias said that 9,502 places were vacated, mostly at ministries, where more than 4,100 civil servants opted to quit.
In most cases, they were close to retirement age. Greece has pledged to clear 150,000 staff from the public sector by 2015.