The International Committee of experts suggests scheduled reductions, as well as flexible contracts, the so-called “zero hour contracts”, with an allowance from the State as an alternative solution instead of collective redundancies in case a business faces economic difficulties. Further salary reductions are requested in the following cases:
1. Young people below 25 years old should receive a lower salary, depending on their work experience. For the first year, if someone needs the experience, his salary will be 498,10 Euros, which corresponds to 85% of the lowest salary of 586 Euros, and for the second year it will be 556,7 Euros which corresponds to a 95% of the lowest salary. The Minister of Labour, George Katrougalos wants to replace the provision that defines reduced salaries for the young people, on the basis of avoiding age and sex discrimination.
2. The Committee gives space to a business contract subscription that includes lower salaries that are characterized as “deviations” in case of an emergency financial need.

Katrougalos: IMF is asking for “blood”
The Minister of Labour gave a taste of how the upcoming negotiations for the changes in all Labour matters will be turning out.  He said that “the negotiation with the lenders will be very tough, because the Europeans want to keep the IMF in the program. The Fund is an ‘extreme player’. It is asking for total deregulation in the labor market which actually means blood”.
As far as the collective redundancies are concerned, Katrougalos said that the country would comply with the decision of the European Court for the AGET case (the company asks for an abolition of the veto against the massive redundancies).