State leave with strings attached
Tens of thousands of civil servants who manage to secure holiday leave during the Olympics and Paralympics will have to leave contact phone numbers and addresses should their departments suddenly require their services, the government said yesterday. However, their lot will be better than that of their colleagues working in public sector areas considered immediately involved in the Games, who will get no holiday at all during August and September. This applies to civil servants stationed in the whole of Attica, and in the administrative districts where Olympic events are to be held – the prefectures of Thessaloniki, Magnesia, Achaia and Iraklion. Under a circular issued by Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos yesterday, all workers in public sector departments in the same areas that are indirectly involved in the Games may go on leave in August and September, but face recall in case of need. Even then, certain categories, such as drivers, electricians, plumbers and cleaners, will have to stay put until after the Games.
