Another meeting, at least, will ultimately be needed for the signing of a framework agreement between social partners on the issue of licensing foreign labour, as procedural matters prevented signatures during yesterday’s private meeting of unions, employers’ organisations, and the Minister of Labour.
According to information from Phileleftheros, the delay in signing a framework agreement among all involved parties, based on a relevant proposal from the Ministry of Labour, is mainly due to the extension requested by the Employers’ and Industrialists’ Federation (OEB).
The issue will be discussed at the Federation’s Executive Committee on Thursday.
However, our information indicates that essentially none of the social partners expressed serious reservations yesterday about signing the framework based on the ministry’s proposal, which aims to enhance cooperation regarding adequate staffing of the labour market, especially concerning the licensing process for foreign personnel.
Illustrative of this is the statement made yesterday by the Minister of Labour, Yiannis Panagiotou, after a relatively brief new meeting at the ministry on the matter, praising the “initially positive response of the social partners to the framework presented by the Ministry of Labour.”
As we reported the day before, the proposal focuses on three points or levels, as the minister stated.
According to Panagiotou, “the initially positive response of the social partners to the framework presented by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security for shaping co-responsibility is a significant step in the right direction. I expect the completion of all scheduled internal procedures within the next few days, so that the aspects of the proposed process can be implemented immediately.”
“The majority of the organisations,” he added, “representing the social partners have already convened their bodies and ratified their relevant positions. The completion of internal procedures in some organisations is pending, so that this process can be completed. I look forward to the final positions, which I expect to align with the initial positive stances,” he concluded, essentially announcing developments on the matter within the coming days.
As we understand, a new meeting on the issue has not yet been scheduled, but it is considered likely to take place either next Friday or early next week.
As we reported and as the Minister of Labour confirmed yesterday, the proposal submitted for cooperation on the issue concerns the upgrading of the committee monitoring the employment strategy of foreign workers.
This committee will be informed about all requests for foreign personnel licences, improving the living conditions framework for foreign workers through dialogue, establishing suitable housing standards – a matter also linked to the 10% deduction from foreign workers’ salaries for housing purposes – and continuing the dialogue for updating the employment strategy for foreigners, aiming to complete it by autumn.
For the latter, the Minister of Labour wanted to note yesterday that if no agreed framework is reached, then the state “retains the authority to submit an updated proposal to the Council of Ministers.”
He once again stressed the importance of cooperation between social partners and tripartite dialogue in general:
“Especially in the current circumstances, the fluidity of the international environment and the significant external challenges make unity and cooperation internally imperative to ensure smoothness and stability at all levels.”
