Filenews 19 July 2024
A few hours after the signing of the agreements between the Minister of Finance and the trade union leaderships, OEB announced the following:
◗ The autonomy of collective bargaining in the private and public sector is fully guaranteed and respected.
◗ In the public sector, in addition to the additional increases agreed from time to time, such as the one just announced, annual increases are paid every year in the form of surcharges and ATA.
◗ The growth rate of the State Wage Bill has been high in recent years and conditions are being created for a return to the unmanageable levels of the period before the crisis of 2011-2014.
Just yesterday, in a report, the International Monetary Fund called on the government to find ways to contain labour costs and link increases to incentives to increase productivity.
◗ We emphasize that OEB does not discuss the reduction of the salary of any employee, however the IMF's recommendations on surcharges and ATA need very careful processing by the economic team of the Government.
Elsewhere in its announcement, OEB says that it has repeatedly stressed the need to rationalize the way the State Wage Bill is increased. "It is imperative to formulate a new organizational chart, utilizing technology through digital reform, in order to reduce the number of employees in the medium term and take off the productivity of the state machinery," he points out. "Until then," OEB adds, "the annual wage growth rate cannot exceed the GDP growth rate. Especially in the current international conjuncture, with unprecedented challenges and uncertainties, restraint and rationalization of practices that increase fixed and inelastic costs are imperative."
