Thousands of lay-offs for OTA

So far we knew of the cuts in the wages of the «privileged» DEKO. «Protothema.gr»  now reveals that the government already has another plan under  way, so that the 100 rough days until the meeting with the Troika will not pass «unproductively».

It’s about the plan for cutting 15.000 entry-level, low-performance and productivity positions at OTA. In other words, the tentative announcement by the minister of State Haris Pamboukis and vice president Theodoros Pagkalos is proven to be valid.

However, this specific action will not be the only one. This is because the same high-ranking government sources are talking about the possibility of a further 15.000 lay-offs «of course, if deemed necessary».

But how will this unprecedented plan for Greek standards hold up? Already Maximou and the vice presidency have received the initial data of the recent online inventory of the public sector. It more or less indicates that over 25.000 positions (this number might increase in the next days) are without «purpose».

Government sources told us about «press offices with disappearing employees, single positions filled even with seven employees each etc». So, in a coordinated wave of publicity, the government will try to explain their new choices, which will certainly be more painful than ever.

This is due to the fact that even if the lay-offs don’t concern the rough core of the state’s employees, they affect job positions for the first time. Bigger cuts are expected at OTA mainly due the pretext of Kallikratis, in which there will be a focus on the Prefectures merged into regions, but also on Municipalities across the country and particularly in relation to cleaning services, which were found to be employing up to 2.000 people!
 

These lay-offs are a message to the lenders: «Give us our installment»

With these actions being built up until March, the government is seeking to send a clear message to the lenders that by «dipping its hands in blood, it’s worthy of the much-wanted fourth installment». The clear statements by Pamboukis, both in «Epikaira» magazine and the radio show of Elli Stai, are not accidental. There, the minister announced lay-offs in the public sector under the pretense of a «qualitative state».

We must also note the specific statements/support to the new plans were more or less «demanded» by minister of Finance Giorgos Papakonstantinou who, after a lot of "bloodshed", didn’t want to be blamed for another grave measure. It is impressive that the minister of Interior Ragkousis so far has not made any statements, leaving the ball in the court of Pamboukis and Pagkalos.

Sources are referring to initial agreements on the lay-off plans, especially concerning such a big number of employees in DEKO and mainly OTA. This is because he does not want to combine his first big incision in local government, Kallikratis, with the first wave of lay-offs. In any case, we must stress that thousands of expired contracts have not been renewed by Municipalities and Districts.