The latest in a series of mediatised discussions between the Troika and the Greek government, the "bad" troika insist on longer working week and flexible shifts, etc.
In doing so, if they are actually doing so, they prove themselves to be depressingly off the mark. What they seem to need desperately is inside information...
In Greece, you do not have to allow a longer working day -- just get rid of restrictive labour legislation and the benefits will not be long in coming....
Greece's unemployment problem is, in part, legal. Employers in Greece face restrictive labour legislation which is supported by steep fines and uber-powered Labour Inspection; not recruiting, even if it means a compromise or two, is a better option than having to battle with often contradictory legal requirements. And the fines that come with them. Fancy trying to explain away how you came to be fined 30,000 euro after having assured your bosses abroad that everything is above board in Greece...
You can't turn to Agency employment either! Temporary employment (as it is called in Greece) is allowed only in cases of transitory needs and never allowed for blue-collar positions...
Holding two jobs is practically out of the question. Part-time jobs with a rolling shift are difficult for employers as any change in the actual shift is practically forbidden: if the person planned is absent and a replacement takes his place, the labour inspection can fine the employer for incorrect declaration....
Six (6) forms have to be filed for each recruitment; a book with personnel holidays has to be kept. these same holidays have to be filed on-line as well...
We could go on, but this will quickly get very tedious. The message is, Greek labour legislation is out to impose fines (presumably on the imaginary bad guys) -- not to promote "reasonable jobs".
Similarly, investment in Greece is a conceptual contradiction. No one in their right mind would willfully face the vagaries of Greek law the backlogged legal system and the fiscal complexity, the taxes, and the fines that come with it.
So, it should come as no surprise that the Germans and the Dutch are vociferous about the Greek government still receiving money despite "little" progress after nearly three (3) years of support..
Indeed, in their support, if you live & work in Greece what you see is -- no progress whatsoever.
Apart from its criminally restrictive labour legislation, there is the same number of civil servants, now more disgruntled than ever; The same number of state owned companies; the same cronyism, the same politicians bandying inane platitudes at amazingly idiotic TV shows.
These same politicians who voted for an MOU on austerity measures which, by the admission of quite a few of them, they never read!
So, "who is minding the shop if all the Greek politicos are on Greek telly?" Probably only Greece's current PM, Antonis Samaras. He seems very alone, trying to run the shop doubling up as the sales assistant as well. Lately he has been trying to reassure the EU's central bankers that he (at least) believes in the feasibility of reform. His cabinet spends more time talking and running behind televised events, than in doing.
Caught between their -- less than stellar -- politicians, the self-serving labour unions, profiteering political parties bent on cronyism and a rigid and corrupt bureaucracy fiercely protected by law, Greek citizens have no-one to turn to effectively. No one in the EU sympathizes, probably because no-one knows what is really going on.
To all intents and purposes, Greeks are now cornered in their own country.
