- Law 1876/89 for collective agreements, which defines the procedure, the bodies responsible, the contents, etc., of a collective agreement as described below (cf. Chapter II, 3.).
- Royal Decree (BD) 748/66 on holidays, which lays down the rest days to which workers in different sectors are entitled and the official specific holidays per year.
- Laws 2112/20 and 3198/55 on the procedure and compensation for dismissals (cf. Chapter II, 2.5).
- Law 1264/82 on trade unionism (cf. also Chapter II, 3.). This law contains various so-called "institutional" arrangements. These refer to democracy at the workplace, the purposes of strikes, protection of trade unionists and of trade union activities, leave for trade union work, etc. This set-up gives a new quality to trade unionism in Greece and a new dimension to daily trade union struggles. Briefly, the law:
- guarantees the right to strike;
- prohibits lock-outs;
- prohibits the use of anti-strike procedures during a strike;
- prohibits dismissals during a strike;
- protects trade union officers, e.g. council members;
- requires the employer to give the trade union offices and appropriate venues for general assemblies;
- requires the employer to be in contact with the shop stewards of the trade union, meeting them at least once a month to discuss workers' problems.
- Law 1346/83 "modifying and complementing certain labour legislation arrangements and identifying miscellaneous issues". This law modifies and complements various agreements under labour law. The reason the law was passed was the need to improve the working conditions of wage-earners to correct faults and weaknesses ascertained in the agreements in operation, to update other agreements and their adaptation to new conditions as well as to fill in gaps in current labour law.
The main regulations of this law are as follows:
- annual paid leave for all wage-earners is fixed at four weeks;
- additional leave to be covered by the state budget and that of the OAED granted to working students and scholars is more than doubled, from 6 to 14 working days;
- wage-indexing for workers is laid down in collective agreements;
- additional family allowance is given for the third child born after 1.1.1982;
- managers may work in rotation during the summer;
- the exception of mining companies from controls as regards collective dismissals is abolished;
- the compulsory rehiring of workers employed seasonally in hotels is laid down;
- sanctions concerning breaches of arrangements on occupational health and safety, on employing foreigners, and on placement are tightened;
- the anachronistic arrangement concerning the conclusion of employment contracts for a duration of six days for tobacco workers is abolished;
- incentives are given by the OAED to employers for hiring and giving practical work experience to Greek school-goers;
- provision is made for payment of a grant from the state budget to employers who hire the disabled who are governed by Law 903/76.
- Law 1414/84 on "applying the principle of equality between the sexes in labour relations and other arrangements" (Official Gazette No. 10, Vol. A, 2.2.1984). This law expresses the constant concern of the government to establish conditions of real equality between the sexes. The key aim of the law is to achieve equality of the sexes in the field of labour relations and to eradicate all discrimination regarding vocational guidance and training, access to employment, possibilities for promotion, pay and other working conditions. It also defines those eligible for marriage and family allowances. Sanctions against offenders are laid down. The law sets up sex equality services, both at the central level of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security as well as at the labour inspectorates, and also a special section of the Supreme Council of Labour (ASE) which deals exclusively with these matters. Thus, the law sets out in formal terms the requirement set out in the Constitution as regards sexual equality and also meets the obligation to adapt Greek legislation to EC Directives 75/117 and 76/207.
- Law 2190/94 on the "constitution of an independent authority to select personnel and settle administrative issues".
- Law 2224/94 on the "regulation of questions pertaining to labour, trade union rights, health and safety at work, the organisation of the Ministry of Labour and its subordinate legal entities, and other provisions".
- Law 2150/93 on the "National Institute of Labour and other provisions".
- Law 2405/96 on the ratification of ILO International Convention No. 151 on "Conditions of Employment in the Public Administration".
- Law 2403/96 on the ratification of ILO International Convention No. 154 on "Promoting Collective Bargaining".
- Law 2335/95 on the regulation of insurance matters.
- Law 2336/95 on the regulation of matters concerning the Employees' Housing Agency and the Employees' Fund.
- Law 2307/95 on the transfer to OAED committees of responsibilities concerning job placement for (disabled) persons covered by Law 1648/96.
- Law 2367/95 on the regulation of personnel matters in the Skaramanga and Elefsina shipyards. In particular, the conditions and requirements for the transfer of "Greek Shipyards PLC" shares to its employees are laid down in this law, as are regulations for both "Greek Shipyards PLC" and the Elefsina shipyard concerning personnel leaving the company or entering early retirement (through the Social Security Office - IKA).
- Law 2394/96 on the regulation of working hours in bakeries.
- Law 2434/96 on "policy measures for employment, vocational education and vocational training".
- Presidential Decree (PD) 156/94 on the obligation on employers to inform their employees as to the conditions on which the employment contract or employment relationship is based.
- Presidential Decrees (PD) 395/94, 396/94, 397/94, 398/94, 399/94, 185/95 and 305/96 on laying down minimum regulations concerning health and safety at work in accordance with Community directives.
- Presidential Decree (PD) 137/95 on laying down administrative sanctions where Law 1648/86 is violated.
- Presidential Decree (PD) 372/95 on integrating the General Secretariat for Social Security into the Ministry of Labour and on renaming the latter Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
- Presidential Decree (PD) 16/96 on laying down minimum regulations concerning health and safety at work in accordance with EEC Directive 89/391.
- Presidential Decree (PD) 17/96 on laying down measures to improve health and safety at work in accordance with EEC Directives 89/391 and 91/383.
- Presidential Decree (PD) 177/96 on the composition, the term of office and the responsibilities, etc., of the National Centre for Vocational Guidance.
- Law 2639/98 on the regulation of employment relationships and the establishment of a labour inspectorate. The law contains stipulations concerning part-time employment, arrangements on working time, local employment pacts, the establishment of private placement agencies, the establishment of a labour inspectorate, provision of material medical benefits for unemployed persons aged under 29 by the Social Security Office and parental leave.
- Law 2676/98 on the organisational and functional restructuring of the social security bodies.
- Law 2643/98 on promoting the employment of specific groups of persons. These include the disabled and their families, parents with more than three children, persons who fought in the Greek resistance movement, invalids and war invalids. Protected persons will be employed in accordance with objective criteria based on a system of points awarded for each criterion.
Enterprises that employ disabled persons receive a subsidy which covers part of the wage costs and part of the expenditure for ergonomic workplace design for the person concerned. The Public Employment Service (OAED), on the basis of the information that the enterprises submit concerning their needs for skilled labour, organises training programmes each year to train disabled workers in the skills required. The participants in these programmes are awarded a vocational training certificate by the OAED. The law also stipulates that disabled workers are entitled to an additional six days' holiday leave on top of the standard paid leave enjoyed by all workers.
- § 6 of Law 2639/98 provides for the establishment of a labour inspectorate (SEPE) which reports directly to the Minister of Labour and Social Security. The main tasks of the SEPE are:
1. to monitor and ensure the application of the stipulations laid down under labour law,
2. to seek and penalise violations of labour law,
3. to provide information and advice to employers and employees as regards the most efficient way to observe the regulations that apply,
4. to investigate all complaints and concerns brought to the attention of the SEPE regarding the correct application of labour legislation, etc.
The SEPE consists of a technical secretary, who manages the SEPE office, and social, technical and medical labour inspectors. The social labour inspectors monitor the observance of the general statutory regulations on occupational safety. The technical labour inspectors carry out controls as to the protection of the safety and health of workers, investigate the causes of serious and fatal accidents at work and propose measures for the avoidance of such accidents in the future. The medical labour inspectors carry out controls concerning the protection of the health of the workers, investigate the nature and causes of occupational illnesses and propose measures to protect the health of the workers.
- § 4 of Law 2639/98 provides for the agreement of local employment pacts (TSA), that is, special collective agreements between the responsible parties from the public sector, the local administrations and the social partners concerning the implementation of a concrete proposal or a concrete economic, social or cultural activity. The agreements lay down the duration of the proposal or activity and all conditions for its application and have the aim of promoting employment in a specific region. The aim of local employment pacts are:
1. to support structurally weak regions of Greece,
2. to help local development and create jobs in dynamic fields with a future,
3. to promote employment by increasing community work,
4. to improve the quality of human resources and to better adapt vocational training to existing basic needs,
5. to reintegrate the unemployed and especially the long-term unemployed, as well as persons who are threatened with social exclusion,
6. to cope with the consequences of industrial restructuring.
The parties to local employment pacts can be bodies from the public sector, the local administrations and the social partners.
- § 25 of Law 2639/98 contains stipulations concerning childcare leave for parents. Under this legislation, every parent who is in an employment relationship governed by private law, or who is in a remunerated contractual relationship with a company or enterprise, or who is employed in the public sector, by a legal entity governed by public law or by a local administration, is entitled to parental leave between the end of maternity leave and the date that the child reaches 3.5 years of age. The total maximum duration of parental leave is 3.5 months, and this term can be divided between the two parents. The right to parental leave is enjoyed only by the individual parents and is not transferable (except in the case of single parents). It applies only to one child at a time. Leave is granted by the employer on the basis of a ranking list recording all the employees' applications, which is drawn up each year. Employers may not dismiss an employee on grounds of having claimed the right to parental leave.
- § 1 of Law 2639/98 ("Special forms of employment") stipulates that an agreement existing between an employer and employee on carrying out a service or task for a specified or unspecified period, especially in the case of piece-work, telework and home work, expressly does not represent a disguised contract of dependent employment when the agreement has been made in writing and is submitted to the local labour inspectorate within 15 days. This provision does not apply when the worker concerned is exclusively or primarily engaged by one employer.
- § 2 of the above law ("Part-time employment") regulates questions such as the definition of part-time employment, the written registration of the part-time employment contract, the submission of the contract to the responsible labour inspectorate, the invalidity of termination of a contract if a worker is not prepared to agree to part-time employment, etc. The same paragraph also deals with questions such as employment contracts for employment lasting a number of days, weeks or months.
- Law 1837/89 ("Protection of minors in employment and related matters") and Presidential Decree 62/98 ("Protection of young people in employment and implementation of EC Directive 94/33"): These two regulations concern matters such as the prohibition of child labour, restrictions on the working time of young workers, working conditions for young people employed in cultural and similar activities, duties of the employer, prohibition of certain types of employment for young people, daily and weekly rest periods, regulations on rest breaks, etc.
- Presidential Decree 572/88 ("Protection of the rights of workers in the event of takeovers of enterprises, plants or sections of plants": This regulation integrated EEC Directive 77/87 of 14.2.1977 into national law. It concerns questions such as the rights of workers in the event of enterprise takeovers, etc.
- Decree-Law 3789/57 ("Amending and supplementing labour legislation"): §§ 1 and 2 of this law deal with the work regulations in enterprises.
- Regulations on the same subject are also laid down in § 8 of Law 2224/94, in so far as there is a works council in the enterprise, and in § 2 of Law 1876/90, which stipulates that the work regulations can also be dealt with in collective agreements. In such cases the powers of the works councils in the enterprises must be taken into account.
- Law 1836/89 ("Promotion of employment and vocational training") in conjunction with Law 2648/98 ("Fiscal and contributory regulations") and the stipulations contained in Presidential Decree 1/90 ("Protection of the rights of workers with an insolvent employer"): These regulations provide for the establishment of an autonomous fund to protect workers whose employer is insolvent and lay down the conditions, requirements and procedures for meeting unsatisfied claims of workers whose employer is bankrupt. These regulations integrate EEC Directive 80/987 into national law.
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