SEV, unions shake hands
Employer and worker groups shook hands yesterday over a 10.9 percent pay hike for this year and next after the Federation of Greek Industries (SEV) agreed to improve its offer, helping to end weeks of deadlocked negotiations. The General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE), the country’s largest umbrella union, said that workers will get a 2.9 percent increase as of June 1, an increase that will be backdated from the start of the year, with a second 2.9 percent pay raise expected at the start of September. In May next year, workers can expect a third hike of 5.1 percent. The gap separating workers and employers started to close in a meeting between the two last week, as SEV improved its initial offer of a single 2.8 percent pay hike. GSEE described the talks as the most difficult in years given the tight government incomes policy and questions about collective wage agreements after banks refused to negotiate pay raises in their sector with their employees’ central union. «The result represents an honest agreement that is dignified but leaves no room for celebrations,» said GSEE President Christos Polyzogopoulos. The initial 2.8 percent offer met with large protests from workers, especially after SEV described it as being generous and in line with inflation in the European Union. The offer even prompted comments from government ministers, calling on companies to distribute more of their profits to workers. SEV President Odysseas Kyriakopoulos said that yesterday’s deal represents the highest increase given to employees among the European Union’s pre-enlargement 15 members. Industry is bound to cover this increase with higher productivity and more investments, said Kyriakopoulos. PASOK welcomed the news, describing it as a defeat for the government’s incomes policy which this year gave public sector workers below-inflation pay hikes. The communist-affiliated PAME worker group, however, walked out of talks and called on its members to reject the agreement and proceed with strike action on April 13.
