More checks at workplaces
The financial police, a department which was set up last year, is to be given the task of conducting checks on businesses to ensure that they are not employing uninsured workers after inspections in the first half of this year revealed that almost one in every two migrants did not have social security coverage and that clandestine laborers accounted for more than a third of the work force in some sectors.
Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias labeled uninsured work ?a wound for the economy? as he said the financial police would be allowed to carry out the checks in cooperation with the Labor Inspectorate once legislation is passed in the next few weeks. ?The financial police is an up-and-coming institution that will support the difficult task of the Labor Inspectorate,? he said.
Labor Minister Yiannis Vroutsis said checks during the first seven months of 2012 showed uninsured workers made up as much as 35 percent of the work force in some sectors, while 47 percent of migrant workers did not have insurance.
