Main Document in the Seminar of PAME on the Issue:

“The Fight for Collective Contracts”

 On June 6, 2016 the Executive Secretariat of PAME, organised a Seminar for the leaderships of the Trade Unions of Athens and National Federations on the Issue “The Fight for Collective Contracts”. A special presentation was made by Metin Ebeturk, President of Sosyal Is Union from Turkey on their struggle for Collective Contract against the multinational Leroy Merlin.

The seminar was attended by more than 500 trade union leaders from the Athens region.

Today, we forward to you the main introduction, presented by the Executive Secretariat of PAME in the Seminar.

 The Fight for Collective Contracts

“The Executive Secretariat of PAME took the initiative in organizing today’s seminar in order to discuss and identify all the aspects related to a large primary and of decisive importance front that concerns directly the whole working class.

This is the salaries and wages and the conditions for the protection of workers by the exploitative mania of the capital. More precisely, the struggle to fight off the united and planned attack of the capital for a more extensive and even deeper exploitation of labour force with the continuous, dramatic cuts in salaries and wages and the biggest possible disruption of the trade union organization and negotiating capacity of the working class.

During these years we have had a dramatic deterioration of the position of the working class and the working conditions and trade union action, the tendency of relative and absolute poverty is getting stronger. Therefore, the problem of salaries and wages increase becomes top priority.

The struggle to recover the losses we had and to secure the conditions for further substantial wage raises is of the highest priority. Without doubt this front is very hard on the capitalist employers and the state.

The issue of Collective Contracts (CC), of the demands of the labour movement for restoration of solid rights, of the working conditions, was and remains a big front of class confrontation with the capital and the forces that serve it.

In the history of the class struggle, the labour movement has made achievements, victorious results that improved and relieved the lives of the workers.

At the same time, experience shows that capital, regardless of the maneuvers made under the pressure of the class struggle and the compromise to which was subjected, it never abandoned the attempt to compress wages and rights downwards, because this objective was directly linked to safeguarding a greater profitability.

In this direction, it was constantly trying and often succeeded to cancel in practice the achievements that improved the wages, the working conditions, social security, regardless of whether they took the form of the state laws.

The determining factor that resulted in the workers in achieving their goals, but even more in their implementation, was the level of the organization of the working class. First and foremost within the workplace, within sector and in total. In relation with other objective factors, such as the labour productivity and the rate of profit by sector.

Under the present conditions, under the burden of the capitalist economic crisis, the low level of working class organization and overall the negative correlation that exists in the labour movement, the harmful role of the unions controlled by the Government and the employers, and the guideline that supported and supports, the labour movement was unable to defend its achievements and to confront the generalised attack of the capital.

With the support of the respective governments the dismantlement of the solid rights and achievements, the blow on salaries, on wages, on social security accelerated. The working conditions worsened in total and the degree of exploitation of the workers increased vertically. The main objective of the capital is to further lower the average sectoral salaries towards the minimum wage level.

In this brief introduction, we think that is very clear the special importance of the seminar that we are holding today. It is another important initiative and contribution of PAME to the working class struggles and its movement. It comes at a time when a new brutal attack on the labour rights is being prepared. Today the class content of the memoranda is even more obvious. It is obvious that they constitute the demands of the big employers for the devaluation of the labour power that they became packages of measures and were voted by the governments that serve the capitalist path of development.

The confirmation of our assessment comes from what the president of the SEV (Hellenic Federation of Industrialists)said last week when he essentially announced the attack with new cuts in wages and salaries, the of 20% in the private sector. Simultaneously, in tourism business in Thessaloniki we had the first company to “break” even the miserable minimum wage of the National General Collective Contract, under a company-based Collective Contract, with a union it controls. Therefore, today’s seminar has the character of readiness, vigilance and preparation for hard struggles we have ahead.

There are issues that need special attention and to be the subject of discussion and for this reason we want to start a wide and substantive discussion. In today’s meeting we do not want to simply record some problems, serious ones, of course. We want to discuss the importance of this front and the conditions required to develop it. It is not of the ordinary. It concerns the heart of the class confrontation with the united aggressive policy of the capital. It concerns the defence of the working class and its standard of living from the predatory exploitation of the capital, the claim to the losses that it had and mainly the formation of those conditions which will strengthen its negotiating position against the capitalists.

Briefly, we are discussing on how to organize our counterattack uniformly, by sector, nationwide.

It is necessary, therefore, to focus our discussion on this exact issue. How will we create such conditions that will allow us to fight back?

It takes great effort and decisive steps concerning the organization of the workers, the strengthening of the class line that PAME, the unions, the federations, the labour centres, the organizations rallied in this line, promote and fight for.

In this effort, in every front of struggle, it is necessary to work in a uniform way and to act aiming at:

• The education, the rallying and the mobilisation of forces.

• Good preparation for every step we take.

• To confront vigorously the difficulties and take advantage of the opportunities.

• To help to overcome illusions, damaging attitudes leading to the opinion that “nothing changes”, “nothing can be done”, that workers can hope to satisfy their interests on the line of class collaboration, as part of their compromise with the objectives and the interests of the capital or to wait until the “growth” that the government is preaching about, comes.

For the working class there is no hope, even in case there is some growth, if it does not organize its struggle.

For this reason our struggles will not have dynamism and perspective if they are not associated with a strong challenge of the domination of the capital. It is hostile to the working class the view that identifies its needs with the goals of the capital for competitiveness, profitability, earnings recovery. We do not accept this, we question those goals. We do not accept to work for a pittance, while we produce the whole wealth. Ultimately, we fight for a growth in favour of the people and not for capitalist profit. To the extent that we realise this need we will have effective and assertive struggles.

The Government Policy On The Issue Of Salaries,

Collective Contracts, Popular Income

The attacks on the wages and workers’ rights are not temporary or an accidental fact implemented as a result of the crisis.

The capitalist crisis accelerated the attack whose starting point lies further back in the period of the capitalist growth.

The attack is linked to the interests of the capital and has been launched and agreed since the early 90s with the Maastricht Treaty and the subsequent agreements. Let’s all remember the principal strategic objective of the EU for flexibility and mobility in the labour market also associated with sub-targets.

The respective governments supported this direction. They formed and legislated a whole arsenal that “freed” the hands of the capital to attack on wages and industrial relations.

The data of the information system of the Ministry of Labour are revealing. According to which, in 2015 we reached the point to have terminated and left their jobs so many workers that in absolute numbers exceed the number of the employed workers in the same year!

Specifically, in 2015 the number of the employed amounted to 1,673,732 persons. At the same time, the employees who left their work – as dismissals, termination of temporary contracts– amounted to 1,709,052 people! In other words, it was as if all workers in the country quit their jobs or lost it at least once!

Even if we exclude the so-called “voluntary” retirements, which of course sometimes conceal dismissal, and confine ourselves to contract terminations by the employer and the termination of temporary contracts, this number exceeds one million (1,004,705 people). That is, in the course of the year, 60% of employees experienced at least one dismissal.

The pillars of this arsenal, leading to compression of wages down, so as to satisfy the strategy of the capital are:

• The anti-labor laws which were passed and implemented and particularly the legal framework that eliminates collective contracts.

• The tax increase

• Unemployment, which is utilized in order to decrease wages even further.

• The attacks against labor relations and the fixed daily working time, the development and generalization of flexible working relations, which are of direct relevance to how salaries and wages are eventually formed.

The key aspects of the anti-workers’ measures, promoted and imposed despite the initial declarations of the SYRIZA government to restore the minimum wage , the pensions and salaries in the public sector, include:

• In 2012, the minimum wage was decreased by 22%. For young people under 25 years the reduction reached 32%.

Today, the unemployment rate is officially around 26% with all that this implies for the wages and the life of the working class

With the same law and the same term, the implementation of provisions, regulations, collective contracts or arbitration benefits which provide for salary or wage increases, are suspended.

• Abolition of the aftereffect of sectoral and same profession Collective contracts. At the end of the quarter and as long as a new contract is not signed, only the conditions relating to the minimum wage, for children, education, dangerous work are valid, since they were provided in the collective contracts which ended. Any other benefits are cut.

• According to the laws imposed, the Collective Contracts signed are not mandatory for all employers of the sector.

Based on this principle, the members of the employers’ organizations who signed the original Collective Contracts were originally obliged to implement it. After a time the Collective contract was compulsory for all employers, whether they were members of employers’ organizations or not.

Today, an employer can easily avoid the implementation of a Contract even if it is signed either because he is not a member of an employers’ organization or because he withdraws from it.

• According to the laws imposed, employers with operational Collective contracts who sign collective contracts with the so called “Individuals’ Associations” and individual contracts were given the opportunity to refrom labor relations, with direct effect on the salary.

“Individuals’ Associations” in their entirety operate as mechanism of the employers. This feature has led to the increase of flexible employment, job rotation, bypassing the sectoral Collective Contract and facilitating the cuts of wages down to the limits minimum wage.

In fact, in this way the principle of Collective contracts favorable to the workers was abolished, paving the way for smaller contracts at company level or individual contracts, which create even worse working conditions. The data shows that by the end of 2012 until mid-2014, 1440 business contracts have been signed (mainly with “Individuals’ Associations”) in their vast majority of which they imposed wage cuts of between 10% – 40%. The last two years, the “boom” of company level collective contracts which were in 2012 resulted in 976 of company level collective contracts signed.

Experts estimate that this shows that an increasingly large part of employees are now paid according to lower wage levels (national minimum wage, which was unilaterally determined by the government and therefore, employers avoid even signing any collective contracts that provides compensation and benefits over those provided in the despicable National Collective Contract.

The so-called “tackling unemployment” programs apprenticeships and other, help reduce wages at the lower levels.

Employers do not pay the total amount of salaries themselves. They are funded by various programs, such as the Employment Agency (OAED) and ensure workers who cost even less than that of the disgraceful minimum wage.

The level of the particular wage forms salaries which are even smaller than those of the National Collective Contract.

Some other items that record the consequences for the workers:

• Unpaid work is generalized. They even sign contracts according to which, part of the salary will be paid through supermarket coupons.

• The wage cuts has led to a reduction of overtime and increase in extra work. It has resulted in unpaid overtime with workers receiving days off instead of remuneration, the majority of which are not given.

• At the same time, the time to be entitled severance pay has been increased from two months to a year’s work, as a result of which employers exploit signing contracts with employees in such way to ensure that they will never have to give them compensation (usually the worker is laid off before the year ends, and rehired after, or sent to sign contracts with different outsourcing contractors).

• The reduction of the minimum wage has reduced the unemployment allowance too, which is automatically connected with it. This reduction reaches 21%!

• The increase in tax rates, the increase in indirect taxes and VAT at 24%, are factors that reduce wages, popular income, limiting any small possibility to satisfy basic needs.

The current government of SYRIZA, continuing the work of the previous ones, implements all existing anti-labor arsenal and broaden the adoption of the Memorandum 3, the Supplementary memorandum while preparing other plans for a new attack in labor relations.

The situation created by the intervention of the state, the laws imposed is revealed on data published in the press and they reveal that big employers sanctify the legislative arsenal to impose new, worse working conditions. Shall we give two examples? Some company level collective contracts state that all employees will work 6days and will only rest on Sunday. The maximum daily work limit is 10 hours with the restriction that the total number of hours per week will not exceed, on average, the 40-hour. If within 4 months of the organization of working time the average time is completed, then the employee will be given consecutive rest days. In other words, with this convention working conditions are deteriorating, the factors that damage the employee’s health are increasing and the employers say that they will not pay at least additional remuneration for the extra working hours but they will hypocritically provide only rest leave after 2-3 months!! This outrageous situation prevails in many workplaces. Another case: in some contracts employers showing “magnanimity» declare that they intend to give a benefit to employees above the minimum wage. But why do they do it? The explanation is given putting in the contract the following condition that is, employers say straight out that workers’ demands are prohibited and employees should make do what is given to them.

There are numerous examples where contracts are signed or proposed by the employers to be signed with the following tactics. The contract will be with the minimum wage. For previous employees earning much higher than the minimum wage salary, wages will not fall, but will be in the “freedom” of the employer. This in effect is justified with the pretext of reducing social security contributions, as this enables them not to reduce their salaries. Such tricks are commonly used.

These examples are a small sample that reveals the brutality prevailing in the workplace.

 The recent enactment of the anti-popular law for social security not only cuts pensions, but paves the way for employers to impose worse working conditions, cut even more salaries etc.

The government’s attitude is outrageous and yet revealing, as shortly before that they lied to working class, telling that they would abolish the memoranda, that wages and pensions would be restored, they even had the nerve to identify periods of gradual recovery from the end of 2015 and into 2016.

This fact needs to be a criterion for workers in the direction that the solutions they need will only be promoted by their own fight and not by governments, which serve the interests of the capital despite what they say to the people.

Workers’ Losses

After The Attack Of The Government And The Capital

During the crisis, the total wages decreased from 85 billion in 2009 to 56 billion in 2014, that is, by 30 billion euros (not including tax increases and including remuneration to key management and their fees were not reduced). It is revealing that as a percentage of GDP, the labor share fell from 61.9% in 2009 to 53% in 2014.

In terms of purchasing power, the average gross salary in Greece, in 2014, reaches only 66% compared to the average purchasing power of the 15 most developed countries of the EU, from 82% in 2009 and 78.5% in 2011. The purchasing power has even fallen from 2002 levels which was 75% of the European average.

The average employee, before income tax, has lost 25% of the purchasing power of salaries that was in 2009, while the employed as a whole have lost 2/5 of their buying power. The losses in the purchasing power of employees are even greater given the high tax bleeding of recent years. Taking into account all these factors, we can estimate that the total losses in workers’ living standards equal or even come close to 50% in the period of crisis.

Concerning the minimum wage, the cut was imposed by the Act of Cabinet in February 2012, according to which it was cut by 22% compared to that provided by National Collective Contract on 1/1/2012. And those who were under 25 years old the reduction for them was 32%. The attack on the minimum wage resulted in 2014 earnings being even lower than the minimum thresholds of the early 1990s.

Regarding the sectoral wages and their losses, we must count as a key negative change in the institution of sectoral contracts that signing new contracts do not provide the remuneration of workers given to date. This is because according to the law 4093/12 the negotiation on wages can now be started even from the minimum wage, without taking the terms of the Contract that ended or terminated as a basis to negotiate. At the same time, even if a contract is signed within three months of aftereffect, if a business is not a member of an employers’ organization that has signed, you are not bound to implement it as we have mentioned before. To put it simply, if a company is not a member of an employers’ organization it may sign company level, or individual contracts, to the ridiculous levels of the minimum wage, regardless of the sectoral Collective contracts.

Most new sectoral Collective contracts signed after forming the new legislation framework contain significant wage cuts for workers: in the hotels (-15%) in trade-retail (-6.3%), banking (-6%), construction (-18%), the technical services (-10%). The reductions in the average sectoral wages as recorded in Social Security Foundation move broadly unchanged. In food-drinks the average wage fell by 11%, in the food supply – tourism fell by 16%, in retail trade by 9%, education by 7,7%, healthcare by 11%. These reductions of the sectoral contracts become even more drastic for those employees who go from full to part time work. And of course we should take into consideration that some employers do not comply with the contract that has been signed.

The Role Of Unionism Controlled By Government – Employers

Apart from the governments, substantial assistance in the implementation of the anti-labour plans was given by the unionism controlled by government – employers.

The General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), member of ETUC-ITUC, steadily promoted the line of the “class collaboration”, “social dialogue”, the policy of the capital that was condensed in slogans in support of competitiveness, entrepreneurship, achievement of “national goals”, which was determined each time by the current government on behalf of the capital.

Being an advocate of capital’s positions, they signed a National General Collective Contract in a period of growth which satisfied the major employers. Well known are the famous increases of cents!!! which, among other things, created suffocating conditions and they were negative basis for negotiations for the sectoral contracts that followed.

The role of GSEE was not only limited to the issue of signing National General Collective Contracts. Their participation in the “social dialogues” gave additional weapons to the employers to overturn fundamental rights in industrial relations.

Its attitude exonerates and completes the anti-labour puzzle for the spread of flexible forms of employment, the pay cuts that were justified as “non-wage costs. “

They carry great responsibility for their contribution to the strengthening of the government’s argument and the theory of the equivalent measures to compensate the anti-popular measures. Equivalent measures that were anti-popular as well.

The attack of GSEE against PAME, against the class trade unions and federations on having “maximalist” demands that are inconsistent with the capitalist economy, in practice acted as leverage for workers to lower their demands. They went as far as to legalise the signing of the cut minimum wage as legislated by the previous government. They also accepted discrimination against young people under 25 years old, to have salary, under the minimum wage, with the cheap excuse that they did it to save the “institution of the Collective contracts”! GSEE, even today, confirms that it is on the opposite side, against the interests of workers.

Their position in last year’s referendum, the firm commitment to the capitalist way of development is clear. What they propose is a better type of management that supposedly will humanize the capitalism.

But those who now stand on the side of the government and form the new government-controled unionism lead with their tactics and their role to the integration of workers in the capital line, cultivating illusions and false expectations.

The Reconstruction Of The Trade Union Movement

Key Condition For The Effectiveness Of The Struggle

And The Defense Of The Workers’ Lives

The organization of the struggle to cover the losses in salaries and day-wages, for a decent standard of living and especially the reintroduction of the Collective Contracts status remains at the forefront of our struggle, because it is connected with all the aspects of workers’ life and work conditions, because it affects the today and tomorrow. It is linked to various social – unemployment – sickness benefits, the pensions.

In this respect, there is an urgent need to organize the struggle. The effectiveness of the struggle will be judged by the steps that are being taken to face the negative phenomena that exist in the trade union movement.

On the struggles in acute problems we must count results, which are connected with the reconstruction of the movement.

In this direction, a particular plan in sectoral level is needed, choosing the workplaces where we will discuss in detail with the workers about what is needed to be done, where and how we will give the struggle with the employers.

In this struggle we will give all of our reserves, we will utilize all the potentials and the appropriate forms of struggle that will strengthen the pressure, the demands against the big-employers and will educate the workers in militant attitude toward the interests of the capital.

In this direction we must be fully aware of the conditions that have been configured which are strongly negative, with many problems and obstacles that we have to face.

We have to face:

• The consequences of the crisis that continues, the high unemployment rate and the pressure they exert in the working class lines.

• The employers’ aggression, who in the name of growth they intensify their attack.

• The anti-workers, anti-popular legislative arsenal that the employers have been shielded with.

• The decline of the movement, the low degree of organization of the working class in the workplaces and the treacherous role of the employers’ people in the trade union movement, the fragmentation of the trade union movement.

• The feeling of defeatism, compromise and the restriction of the demands that has spread to broad masses of the working class.

• The misleading propaganda of the government and the other bourgeois political parties that entrap workers in illusions and false hopes.

These are factors that we must not underestimate, but we must count them to plan every step for their overthrow.

Therefore, we have to discuss on how we will counteract these obstacles, and we must see better the weapons that we have got and how we will further strengthen our arsenal.

• A powerful weapon is the unity of the working class against the employers, the monopoly groups in every factory, workplace, in every sector. This is the target to be achieved and a condition for victorious struggles. The more steps are made in this direction, the better conditions will be created. A highly specialized work is needed with a plan in every sector, workplace and simultaneously a plan and estimation are also needed to face all those factors and forces which obstruct the unity of the working class lines.

• An aggressive and well-organized enlightenment is necessary, with accurate and specific arguments.

• The participation of workers in every step of the struggle and organization is important, and needs to be constantly increased across sectors, factories, enterprises. I.e. the substantial improvement of the trade unions operation is necessary.

• The greater possible rallying of forces by sector and introduction of more trade unions in this struggle are required.

• Coordination and efficient organization of this struggle is needed, because the targets that we set cannot be achieved if they will not open fronts in more sectors, factories and enterprises.

• A policy of alliances and coalition is needed. The main fronts are the monopolies, the big business groups.

• The more we jointly face these duties the better the conditions for victorious struggles will be created and the reconstruction of the movement will be promoted.

Platform of Demands

The first and basic front is the restoration of the minimum wage. According to the current situation, in the line of covering the losses, we demand and struggle for a minimum wage of 751euros for all, through a National General Collective Agreement as a starting point. The abolition of the discrimination against the young people.

This demand needs to become universal throughout the working class, of all the sectors, and the trade unions.

The struggle for its achievement is a criterion for which side every trade union is on: either on the side of workers or that of the employers.

The second front is the abolition of the entire antilabor framework for the Collective Contracts. It is a basic demand against the government and the employers. This struggle will be combined with the demand of increases in salaries in every sector. Every sector must elaborate a specific framework; it must calculate the losses that it had since 2009 and identify its demands, according to the sectoral agreement of 2009.

• A single task is the restoration of the legal framework of the Collective Contracts. A universal validity and obligatoriness of the Collective Contracts that binds all the enterprises, either they are members in employers’ trade unions or not. A universal validity of the most favorable contract that exists in the sector with abolition of the possibility to sign company level collective Contracts with lower wages and worse working conditions than those provided by the sectoral agreement. Implementation of the aftereffect of the Collective Contract until the signing of the new one and abolition of the law for the Individuals’ Associations.

We suggest as many trade unions as possible to sign a text and present it as a bill in the Parliament and to all parties except the fascist criminal organization of Golden Dawn.

Furthermore we demand:

• Reinstatement of all the benefits, i.e. family benefits, sectoral etc.

• Calculation of the overtime payment (which the overtime job must be justified and limited with very strict conditions and in exceptional cases, for example to restore damages that put in danger), according to the sectoral wage and increments that existed before the voting of the antilabor laws. In this case further and immediate leave for rest is provided (with limited time of a week when the overtime was worked) and such that will ensure the week of five-day work and stable hours of work per day, i.e. 8 hours or 7 hours for certain sectors.

• Abolition of the presidential decrees which leveled the compensations.

• Abolition of all settings which provide increase of the dismissals threshold.

• Removal of any flexible form of employment. Full-time and stable job with full salary and social security rights, 7hours work per day – 5 days work per week – 35 hours work per week. In the perspective of our struggles must be put the stable target of further reduction of working time, taking into consideration the increase in labor productivity and a series of other factors. We will deal with this issue more specifically in our next meetings.”