A “thorn” for the government is the negative impact of the implementation of the six-day work even though only 690 companies expressed interest in being introduced to the new institution.
The employees who work in the companies that have applied and can potentially be legally subject to this measure amount to a total of 69,104 and constitute 2.45% of all private sector employees with a dependent employment relationship in the country (2,820 .667 employees). Whether or not the emergency shift is used by all of them or only by some of them (i.e. a subset) is currently not shown by the system.
Government officials are trying to erase the term six-day work from the public discourse and replace it with the term “emergency shift” which refers to continuously operating businesses such as industries.
In fact, government sources note that this extra work can only be done with the employee’s consent* as is the case for any overtime work, which is not stated in the law but also in the circular.
The new setting
The new regulation – add government sources – concerns only very specific categories of businesses, which must meet the criteria and will be checked for this by LABOR INSPECTORS. What we seek is to provide security, legality, flexibility and higher legal incomes instead of job jungle, lawlessness, sloppiness, undeclared work and unpaid overtime.
The positioning of K. Mitsotakis
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was also asked about the issue, during his interview with CNN he had emphatically said that the six-day work is a myth. “This is a myth,” he said and continued: “Greece does not have a six-day work week. Greece has a five-day work week. In fact, we offer employees the possibility to work four days, if they complete the 40 hours and if they agree with their employer. Only under exceptional circumstances, in businesses that operate 7 days per week, 24 hours a day – this is a very small minority -, with the consent of the employee, an agreement between the employee and the employer and with a significant increase in wages, can to add a sixth day of employment”.
On her part, Niki Kerameos, with her post on X, attacks SYRIZA because, among other things, she did not vote for the four-day work week introduced by the government in the Jobs Again law.
The situation in the EU
But what is happening in the other EU countries? No country has legislated six-day work. In most cases, the six-day work is provided for by sectoral collective agreements, for example in Industry, or alternatively, continuously operating businesses cover their needs for additional shifts with overtime.
In fact, Italy and Portugal are moving towards legislating the four-day work, which is also the dominant trend in the context of work flexibility.
In the application of the regulation in our country there is a “gray” area, as the 6-day work can also be applied to businesses that are not by their nature of continuous operation, but it is possible to operate during the days Monday to Saturday, for 24 hours , when faced with an “extraordinary and unforeseeable increase in workload” – that is, the employer can plead unforeseeable workload and force employees to work on the 6th day.
What happens in practice? In the first days of the implementation of the measure, several businesses (e.g. supermarkets) as well as employees (due to the increase in pay) tried to enter ERGANI to declare that they wished to implement the six-day period due to workload, but the system “threw them out”, as did not fall within the scope of the measure.
However, some businesses (according to information, bakery and confectionery chains) tried to artificially “mislead” ERGANI, adding new KAD, so that their request would be accepted.
Changes to ERGANI
The Ministry of Labour, according to information, after the “noise”, will proceed to parameterize the Ergani system, so that it does not accept other businesses, except those in continuous operation, such as industries, while if a business joins illegally, it will be fined.
The government representative Pavlos Marinakis tried to reduce the negative reactions in the previous days, who with his post on Facebook clarifies the landscape with 10 questions – answers on the subject of the six-day work.
Specifically he writes:
- Was the five-day work and the 40-hour workday abolished in Greece from 1/7?
Of course not. After all, employees are the first to know that nothing has changed regarding their working hours and days.
- Then what exactly is and to whom is the possibility of an extraordinary working day?
This is a regulation that only concerns businesses in continuous operation, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. That is, it concerns a small number of companies, mainly industries with uninterrupted operation. Exceptionally, it can be applied for businesses that operate 24 hours a day, 5 or 6 days a week, but only in case of increased workload and after first submitting a relevant declaration to the “Ergani” system.
- So the conditions for workers in shops, supermarkets, offices, banks or services do not change?
No, absolutely no change. Workers, old or young, in trade, services, supermarkets, offices, etc. are not affected in the slightest.
- So the five-day work system is not abolished?
No. The regulation in no way entails the abolition of the five-day work system. It is a special condition for a specific and limited category of businesses that comes to cover an emergency that must be covered by specialized personnel.
- Do you know that there are collective labor agreements between employees and employers that enable very specific industries with special characteristics such as catering, tourism, etc. to arrange the guaranteed working hours of 40 hours for 5 days with an additional 6th day ;
It applies. Certain branches of workers have agreed with the employers, through Collective Labor Agreements, that they can also work on the 6th day, with an additional daily wage. The reason this has happened is the particular conditions of the service provided, as is, for example, the case of catering and tourism.
- Does the new regulation extend this possibility to the entire labor market?
No! The new regulation in no way concerns the entire labor market. All it does is provide the possibility, under very specific conditions, for an exceptional day of extraordinary work. We repeat, it only concerns:
● Businesses that operate 24/7, such as factories with rolling shifts.
● Businesses that operate 5 or 6 days a week with rolling shifts.
In fact, the enterprises of the second category, before making use of the extraordinary working day, must compulsorily declare their extra workload to ERGANI. Any employer who chooses to use the extraordinary day must pay a higher daily wage, increased by 40% to the employee if it is a Saturday and 115% if it is a Sunday or holiday. The cross-checking of the data within ERGANI and the checks by the Labor Inspectors are done to deal with any abuse or illegal use of the arrangement.
- Yes, but we still see even a limited form of “six-day” work expanding to other industries as well…
This is not the case. The new arrangement is not a six-day working day, it is an extraordinary working day, applied under very specific conditions and only in case of emergency for very specific businesses. Even so, there may be 24-hour businesses that operate on rolling shifts that, despite the fact that they now have the option of an emergency work day, never need to use it. All this regulation does is to remedy the extensive undeclared work that affected workers’ rights and incomes.
- In other countries, however, the four-day work is starting to be implemented, while in Greece we are going backwards…
The opposite happens. Greece is one of the first countries to have instituted the four-day work week with the “Jobs Again” law, precisely because we want a labor market that provides security as well as flexibility to the employee.
- Are there safeguards for workers?
With the digital work card established by this government – a standing request of the GSEE – which is now implemented throughout the economy this year, workers’ rights are protected from unpaid overtime. Ergani’s figures show a significant increase in reported overtime and therefore higher incomes for workers who already use a digital card.
- And what about collective labor agreements? Are they increasing or decreasing?
The government believes in the value and usefulness of collective labor agreements because they protect and regulate the rights of workers and the obligations of employers. In recent years, Collective Labor Agreements have increased and today there are 429 Collective Labor Agreements in force.
