Kedikoglou calls for ministers to coordinate after row
Referring to a row between two ministers on Thursday that led to the removal of a draft provision regarding civil service contract workers from a multi-bill that must be voted through Parliament by Sunday, government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou conceded on Friday that members of the cabinet should be better coordinated.
“We cannot have such instances of non-coordination,” Kedikoglou said in comments to Skai television.
The spokesman added that the submission of the provision, which had sought to suspend the salaries of contract workers whose agreements had ended while they pursued legal action to make their positions permanent, was a matter for ministers to agree between them. Changes to the legal framework were not necessary he said, adding that the three coalition leaders had agreed that successive extensions of contracts could not continue. The government does not put the “me” above the “us,” Kedikoglou said.
Administrative Reform Minister Antonis Manitakis had wanted to pass a law that would mean the contract workers would stop receiving their salaries once their employment ended but the proposal angered Justice Minister Antonis Roupakiotis, who complained on Thursday that he had not been consulted and refused to approve the provision. Roupakiotis reiterated his opposition to the proposed amendment on Friday, insisting that it was “monstrous.”
As for another revoked legislative provision — a Labor Ministry amendment that would have seen the pensions of newly-retired self-employed workers reduced by 35 percent — Kedikoglou said Samaras’ office had not been informed about this in advance.
