OTE Administration And Unionists To Discuss Labour Issues
After employees of Hellenic Petroleum and betting company OPAP agreed on changes in labour contracts, it is time for employees of Hellenic Telecoms (OTE) to decide which path to choose.
The debate on all labour issue actually began on Thursday, with the administration raising 9 key points to reduce payroll costs by €300m over the next four years, while union OME-OTE “weighs” intentions and strengths, and draw red lines.
The meeting between OME representatives and the OTE administration (including president and CEO Michalis Tsamaz) lasted about 3 hours. All issues that concern the management, and mainly Deutsche Telekom, were discussed, focusing on labour costs, which represent 37% of revenues.
The administration spoke openly of job permanency repeal, voluntary retirement, freezing of salaries, flexible timetable and benefit cuts. CEO Tsamaz said that employees can no longer relay on vested rights of the past.
The repeal of job permanency would pave the way for renegotiations on existing labour agreements, salary and benefit cuts etc, and ultimately reduce the personnel of OTE, which now employs 11,500 people.
The discussions on specific issues start on Monday, with the two sides having set a deadline of two months to reach an agreement. The administration considers the proposed changes as the only way for OTE’s recovery, while unionists are not willing to discuss the issue of job permanency, they told Capital.gr.
However, they appear positive to discuss measures for cost cutting. They also argue that if the merger between OTE and Cosmote completes, the wage cost would represent 18% of revenue.
(capital.gr)