The cost of living adjustment (CoLA/ATA) issue has become drawn out after trade unions yesterday decided not to accept the revised government framework and requested a new meeting with the president.
After unions accepted the initial government framework prepared with the president’s intervention and employers rejected it, a revised framework followed. KEVE initially accepted this version, whilst unions expressed serious concerns about the changes.
What changed in between, and how did the roles reverse? According to Phileleftheros sources, the key point causing contention is linking the ATA to the minimum wage.
Currently, the minimum wage is reviewed every two years. The initial one-page government proposal given to social partners mentioned incorporating the ATA into the minimum wage, with the clarification that reviews would happen every two years and would cumulatively take into account the ATA awarded in the interim.
The unions wanted annual ATA adjustments to the minimum wage, which was ultimately included in the proposal prepared after the president’s intervention but was rejected by employers.
In the latest revision, the ATA adjustment appears to have reverted to every two years – a development KEVE agreed to but which concerns the unions.
OEV position unclear
Phileleftheros understands that OEV never accepted the government’s revised framework, and it was wrongly interpreted that after KEVE’s acceptance, OEV also accepted the proposal.
What the federation decided was to give its negotiating team a unanimous and strong mandate to handle the issue as it sees fit.
The same sources note that certain points in the new proposal concern OEV as well, though it appears to accept awarding the ATA to the minimum wage every two years, as the decree provides.
An annual award would essentially mean abolishing the minimum wage decree, sources note.
The unions will now go to the presidential palace to seek clarifications regarding the latest changes. Any further changes would trigger new opposition from employers, and the saga would continue.
Nevertheless, the government camp and the president himself appear optimistic the issue will be resolved soon.
Yesterday, the four trade union organisations met to examine recent developments following the government’s new revised proposal and KEVE’s acceptance.
According to sources, what changed is that the word “measures” has been deleted from the section providing for “implementation of measures and incentives by the ministers of labour and finance to extend and implement the ATA scheme and pay the cost of living allowance to more beneficiaries”.
A change also appears in the wording regarding incorporating the ATA into the national minimum wage, which by law is reviewed every two years.
Consequently, unions SEK, PEO, PASYDY and DEOK appeared concerned after their afternoon meeting about the revised ATA framework and will seek to meet the president for clarifications.
SEK general secretary Andreas Matsas said after the meeting – which lasted over two hours – that issues require further discussion and announced that unions would request an immediate meeting with the president in the coming days.
Asked whether the main disagreement concerns the minimum wage, Matsas said there are concerns about elements that differ, and therefore a joint meeting with the president is needed to clarify certain matters.
He added that the European Court’s decision regarding the European Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages would also be scrutinised so they can handle the entire issue within a comprehensive framework.
