Cuts in special payrolls will reach 35%

The government is proceeding to cuts in special payrolls of uniformed officers, academics, NHS doctors and justice officials; the reductions range from 6% to 35%.

The cuts will be scalable, with the lowest rates imposed on uniformed personnel (military, police, firefighters, and port officers) and the highest ones on justice employees. Officials have also decided on the retroactive application of these cuts from 1 July 2012 in accordance with the updated memorandum.

According to Finance ministry sources, there are 360 million euros recorded as State profit from reductions in these special payrolls.

As finmin Yannis Stournaras announced yesterday to the representatives of the Security Forces, the main scenario of the government provides for 6% or 7.5% cuts for all uniformed personnel. According to initial calculations, the average annual earnings for the army and the police will have a "cap" of 30,000 euros per year.

The cuts include the elimination of automatic wage promotions for Security Forces, which will cause new income losses that the unionists of the industry estimate at 12%.

The clipping at the earnings of justice officials will be much larger as according to information, the weighted average reduction will exceed 20%, reaching 35% for highly paid magistrates.

The economic team estimates that the cuts for AEI – TEI professors will begin at 5% for earnings up to 1,000 euros per month and will reach 30% for those academics who receive more than 2,500 euros. Average losses are calculated at 17.5%.

As for the doctors in the NHS system, their salaries will be cut by 13% on average, while reductions for diplomats and high-ranking clergy will be close to 20%.

Finally, it should be noted that all 200,000 special payroll employees, like other civil servants, will lose Christmas and Easter bonuses, as well as holiday pay, from next year; that is, 1,000 euros gross per annum.