Greece: company agreements and pay cuts are expanding

Article 37 of Act 4024/2011, voted last October (see our dispatch No.  110640) facilitates the conclusion of company agreements, which will take precedence over sectoral agreements.  Thus, in December 2011 and January 2012, 52 company agreements were signed, providing for lower wages than sectoral agreements, the Labor Inspectorate says.  These collective standards affect 17,530 employees, with pay cuts ranging between 5 and 25 percent.  Of these agreements, 39 were signed by “people’s unions” and 13 by company unions.  Most contracts were signed in Attica, initiated by 11 companies employing, in total, 14,457 people.  To compare, the newspaper writes that, over ten months in 2011, before Article 37 came into force, only 12 “special company contracts” were signed, affecting 3,500 people.  In addition, in keeping with the provisions of Article 30 of Act 3996/2011, 727 businesses employing 11,085 people sent the Labor Inspectorate, between September 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011, manning tables showing pay cuts.