Greek agreement on minimum wage

Employers and unions in Greece have signed a new National General Collective Agreement, which covers a range of issues including the level of the minimum wage.

The agreement, signed on 23 May after lengthy negotiations, runs for two-years from the start of 2000 until the end of 2001. It provides for 2.0% increase in the national minimum wage in the first six months of this year and a further 1.5% for the second six months. This takes the monthly minimum wage to Euro474 from 1 July 2000. For 2001 there is a increase of 1.8% in the first half of the year and 1.5% in the second. On an annual basis this is above the inflation rate in Greece, currently running at 2.8%.

Other elements in the agreement are a slight reduction of the service requirement for a fifth week of holiday, down from 14 to 12 years, an additional week of maternity leave, taking it to 17, and rights to leave for adoptive parents. There is also greater encouragement of profit sharing.