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From the construction industry to the tourism sector, Greek employers cannot find the staff they need. The government’s solution: longer working hours. A new law enables employers to implement a six-day work week
After 15 years of recession and austerity and three rescue packages that came with tough conditions attached, labor in Greece is no longer strictly regulated.
Collective agreements have been frozen for years, and in many businesses, staff work on the basis of individual employment contracts.
While the 40-hour work week is still officially in place, employers are permitted to require staff to work up to two unpaid hours per day for a limited period in return for more free time.
In theory, this additional work is voluntary. In reality, however, workers in many businesses and workplaces are forced to work longer hours without receiving any form of compensation.
The authorities — which are themselves short-staffed — rarely carry out checks to make sure that labor law is being observed. Making sure that the authorities can do such monitoring tasks effectively is not a priority for the conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
But even before the law on the six-day work week comes into force on July 1, Greek workers work longer hours than any other workforce in Europe. With an average 41 hours per week, they work more than all other EU citizens, according to the EU’s statistics agency, Eurostat. What’s more, the pay they get for these long hours is low by European standards.
With a minimum monthly wage of €830($887), Greece ranks 15th in the EU in this respect. In terms of purchasing power, it ranks second last in Europe.
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I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say you’re not going to address your labour shortage by making things worse for labourers.
It’s like Greece doesn’t understand what being part of a (mostly) united labor market with the EU means.
You have to offer better standards, not worse, to retain labor
Grexit when
The beatings will continue until morale improves!
Usually people will work less hard to save some energy for that extra day of work they have to do.
Seems like a stop gap, is there supposed to be some larger plan to turn Greece around?
Fuck. Don’t give corporate America ideas. It’ll be the next shit spun through this travesty of a Supreme Court.
Why do you think Amazon and Elon musk are arguing with the Supreme Court that the DOL and labor rights are unconstitutional.
America already permits forced unpaid overtime, especially on corporate positions. We just hide it better I guess?
Oh and we also permit slave labor, provided the “slave” is also a criminal of some kind.
I’m sure there’s other examples but that’s all I have at the moment.
Yes they do. Did you know, in healthcare, they can do this with all the nurses in more than half the states? It’s about whether or not your state has rules against it. The ones who have restricted it recognize how dangerous it is for patient safety. Kids have died because of errors made in these scenarios. And that’s just the publicized court case stuff. I’m sure grandma, with a no CPR choice logged in her chart, gets swept under the rug or not noticed as an aberration.
Hospital administration is cheap so they’ll use it as a standard staffing strategy rather than call an outside, more expensive agency, to fill in, when the state lets them.
These are usually the same states that do not have lunch break laws.
So you can get a nurse: post-surgical, ICU, ER, or elsewhere who hasn’t slept in 24hrs. Hasn’t eaten anything in 15hrs. Maybe longer, because these people have kids and go to class. There’s no sleeping between call lights, they have to be attentive for the duration.
They’re tapped on the shoulder about an hour or two before shift end and told they’re staying. On penalty of abandonment on their license.
Idk about you, but I can’t read words at about 18hrs. Working tired is like working drunk. This is scary.
That’s what I want when I’ve been in a bad car accident and need to be hospitalized. My safety in the hands of one person who is in their 21st hour awake and hasn’t eaten for 10-12hrs because nothing that sells food is open at night, including the hospital cafeteria. Even the food prep crowd is screwed on this one.
Another fun fact. At night, hospitals run with a skeleton crew of docs. Normally, this is fine. You have competent help, read: nurses, who can see and predict the patient having problems and can then call the doc, or page an emergency overhead and get even more people for the patient. Enter mandatory overtime nurse. How well is he going to do on this while essentially working drunk?
But hey, if it saves corporate a buck then it’s worth playing this game of Russian roulette, amiright?
Well I didn’t know about any of that and that’s all awful.
Makes me upset healing people has been twisted so much. Shocking there’s anyone left in the field under those conditions.
Huh, I wonder if any of those refugees they keep murdering might have been able to do some work?
It’s simple, I do work , i get paid. Labour ain’t free.
You can’t get enough workers, sounds like a supply and demand problem.
It seems like “what are you going to do, fire me” is an adequate response, since they would be doing themselves more harm than good
Right? Job interview time: 6 days per week mandatory? Fuck that, I got a side hustle.
Wrong direction, I hope that the greeks express their dissatisfaction loudly
Time to do domestic crimes
Or just move, they’re in the Schengen zone so the rest of the EU is open to them.
The Greek Exodus begins…
It began years ago. That’s why things are so bad in Greece, most of the people able to leave have done already in search of a better life and leaving behind a shortage of skilled labour and labour in general. Meanwhile non economically active people, mostly children and retired still need to be supported somehow and unsurprisingly the public finances are in a poor state.
Fuck them employers. Supply more money if you want your job to be in higher demand. Cut the bums off, and I’m taking about the middle management/CEO trash.
A 6th day at 40% pay? Yeah, that’s a big “no.”
OTOH… a 40 hour week, for the same pay, spread across 6 days wouldn’t be awful.
Mon - 7 hours.
Tue - 7 hours.
Wed - 7 hours.
Thur - 7 hours.
Fri - 6 hours.
Sat - 6 hours.Or however you want to arrange it:
Mon - 5 hours.
Tue - 5 hours.
Wed - 7 hours.
Thur - 7 hours.
Fri - 8 hours.
Sat - 8 hours.Mon - 6 hours.
Tue - 6 hours.
Wed - 6 hours.
Thur - 6 hours.
Fri - 8 hours.
Sat - 8 hours.A 6th day at 40% pay? Yeah, that’s a big “no.”
It’s 40% extra pay, like overtime in the US.
Oh, well that’s DIFFERENT!
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