Shocking proposals by the industrialists

Minister of Employment and Social Insurance L. Katseli will push for the biggest possible agreement from her social counterparts whom she is planning to meet early this afternoon, in the midst of changes taking place on industrial contractual agreements and flexibility maximization in the employment market.
The General Confederation of Professional Industrialist Merchants of Greece (ΓΣΕΒΕΕ) and the National Confederation of Hellenic Markets (ΕΣΕΕ) are for the law that Mrs. Katseli is pushing for, in which there will be a strengthening of working conditions claims versus demarcation claims. The Hellenic Workers Confederation disagrees with these proposals, since they claim that these will lead to a basic cancellation of all demarcation contractual agreements and to a reduction of up to 20% in employee salaries. On the other hand, it gives leeway to the plan’s aim of preserving employment positions.
The Hellenic Industrialist Association is expected to make its own stance on the matter clear after its meeting. It is worthy of note that the Association is generally for Troika measures such as the introduction and operation of industrial contractual agreements and a reduction in salaries.

The President of the Hellenic Industrial Association, Mr. Dimitris Daskalopoulos, stated that he is in favour of working hours in lieu of a reduction of overtime fees and a maximization of corporation efficiency. During Mr. Daskalopoulos’ meeting with Mr. Hrisohoidis, the former also proposed the adding up of overtime working hours in the space of four months and electronic storage of overtime worked so as to reduce bureaucratic hiccups, while he also proposed the introduction of a 6th working day with one extra day off, without overtime payment. The Minister of Employment will inform the members of the Parliament Committee of Social Affairs on the matter, based on the fact that if the plan receives backing from the social counterparts, the Ministry’s plan will stand a bigger chance of being accepted by the Troika.
The shocking proposals of the Hellenic Industrialist Association, analytically
Besides working on Saturday, the addition of overtime hours and the halving of special section employees employed in the study for enterprise, hiring by 50% ; there are other shock-proposals.
The hurdles that have been noted are more than 230 (The Troika memorandum required at least 30 to be recorded), and are spread out over the whole life of an enterprise: from its license of daily operations up to the shutting down of the company and its financial security.
Among the Hellenic Industrial Association’s proposals are to abandon revenue stamps and deposits, to halt the need for corporations to register with the application offices and to stop the requirement of publication of the ledgers concerning revenues and losses, to abandon the taxation of setting a fee on advertising and, last but not least, a proposal that agrees with ERT’s (Hellenic Radio and Television) fees through the Public Electricity Company (ΔΕΗ).
HIA also proposes the cancellation of additional fees on third parties,  including the Right to Importing Duties, medication revenue, education fees, ship ticket fees, fuel, dough, theater and cinema ticket fees, olive oil fees and candle fees.
Furthermore, the Association proposes a freeing up of fees levied upon lawyers, engineers and the normalizing of fees of urban transportation and taxis.
According to the Association, the corporations also demand a freeing up of the profit opportunity of fruit and vegetable sales, a change in the payment of medication, a cancellation of the special prices in ship cafeterias, a halting of the need of farmers to issue invoices as well as the need for industries to inform the Ministry of Development on the raising of prices and the Market Competition Committee on mergers and buyouts.

In addition to the above, the association requests a “normalized fee” over electric energy, natural gas and water as well as Port services.
Last but not least, the association proposes a cancellation on the restrictions on installation- expansion and modernization of industries and warehouses in Attica, the opening up of transport, and the production of bread from frozen dough, as well as the cancellation of pharmacies belonging to pharmacists by 51%. A termination of a unilateral book price, a reduction on the levies pertaining to mobile phones and a tax levied on the Hellenic Post.
The Hellenic Industry Association generally locates the hurdles that need to be overcome on the following factors:
-Overlapping responsibilities between ministries and services
-Lack of cooperation between said ministries and services
-The intervention of Application Offices and professional coalitions, especially for the reception of non-reciprocated pay or a mandatory use of said offices’ services.
-A lack of knowledge of how the market works on top of a lack of cooperation with the industrial community.
-Lack of city planning
-The extreme amount of laws
-The mindset of government intervention

Mr Hrisohoidis mentioned a useful and important initiative taken, with a great contribution to the amelioration of a brighter industrial future, and stated that in a few days, the new investment law will be introduced, hand-in-hand with the strengthening of exports.