The trade unions have started signalling to the Government and the Ministry of Labour about significant decisions regarding the employment strategy of third-country nationals, ahead of the scheduled meeting for tomorrow, Friday, on the issue of foreign workers.
At the new meeting, the third in a row over the last month on the subject, between the Minister of Labour, Yiannis Panagiotou, and the heads of social partners, Mr Panagiotou is expected to present a document for the upgrade of the Monitoring Committee of the existing strategy, in order to ensure more active involvement and information for all partners throughout the process.
Therefore, the proposed new role of the Committee for the new employment strategy of third-country nationals, which was approved last year by the previous government causing strong reactions from the trade unions, is expected to largely determine the outcome of the dialogue.
The trade unions, which have been insisting for about a year on the re-establishment of the technical committees that operated in the past and examined by sector the applications for foreign workers, demand substantial changes in the strategy itself and hold, as we are informed, reservations for the new meeting.
However, they do not exclude continuing the dialogue, provided that the terms of reference of the monitoring committee to be proposed will pave the way for substantial changes to end the observed, as they claim, deregulation of the labour market and undermining of collective agreements.
In light of the above, the trade unions attempted yesterday through their representative bodies to ensure that the whole issue surrounding the licensing process of businesses for employing third-country nationals will be clarified at tomorrow’s meeting, which, although expedited, does not fully satisfy the employers’ organisations.
Specifically, “Ergatiko Vima”, the newspaper published by the PEO, reported yesterday that the union expects this Friday “to clarify the issue”, reminding at the same time that the issue of the employment strategy of workers from third countries “has been pending for a long time and is a matter that affects all workers, creating conditions of labour deregulation”.
The same issue was addressed yesterday by “Ergatiki Foni”, the newspaper published by SEK, highlighting that “awaiting the final submission of the document by the Minister of Labour, Yiannis Panagiotou, the next meeting of the Social Partners has been scheduled for next Friday on the major issue of the Strategy for the Employment of Foreign Workers from Third Countries”.
SEK informs that in the previous meeting, last Friday, the general secretary of the union, Andreas F. Matsas, reiterated the position that for SEK there can be no final settlement “if technical advisory committees are not re-established and clear criteria and procedures are not defined to curb the deregulatory trend arising from uncontrolled granting of licenses to foreign workers from third countries”.
It is also stated that the issue must be closed “so that a definitive halt is put to cases and occasional exploitation of foreign workers” as “the existing regime, as transparently revealed in practice, disrupts the smooth functioning of the labour market, seriously affecting the social cohesion of the country”.
Earlier this year the trade unions SEK, PEO, and DEOK gave a joint press conference to express their concern and disagreement with the existing strategy, arguing that the Government “is proceeding without any consultation, bypassing social dialogue, in granting employment licenses to workers from third countries, without taking into account the positions of trade union organisations”, warning then, even for labour unrest.
