New agreement signed at OTE telecommunications concern
Download article in original language : GR0107114NEL.DOC
In June 2001, a new two-year enterprise-level collective agreement was signed at Greece's Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation (OTE). The deal provides for a pay increase of 3.3% over 2001-2, as well as a variety of new and improved benefits and allowances.
On 25 June 2001, the management of the Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation (OTE) and the Federation of OTE Workers (OME-OTE) agreed a new enterprise-level collective agreement. The collective agreement, which covers around 18,500 workers, will be in effect for 2001 and 2002 and covers both permanent and probationary staff. Temporary staff are affected only by those regulations that are expressly mentioned in, or determined by, their individual contracts of employment, provisions of other collective agreements, decisions by the OTE board of directors and "circulated service directives".
The new agreement provides for an overall pay increase of 3.3% over the two-year period, which will be paid in two instalments, on 1 July 2001 and 1 December 2001.
In addition, the following increase pay-related points have been agreed:
- the increase in the family allowance provided for a third child will be increased to 10% on 1 September 2001;
- beginning on 1 September 2001, expenses for child "minding/accommodation" in daycare centres, which are granted to OTE staff when the mother is employed as a dependent employee by the company, will also be paid in cases where the mother is self-employed. The possibility of paying such expenses to non-working mothers will also be examined;
- the amount of the personal loan which may be granted to OTE staff will be readjusted from 1 September 2001 to GRD 700,000, and from 1 September 2002 to GRD 1,000,000;
- on 2 January 2002, the existing additional compensation for dismissal amounting to three months' pay will be increased to five months' pay, not including any sums in respect of overtime exceeding maximum working hours, night work or any other remuneration apart from regular pay; and
- in the event that OTE achieves its financial objectives in 2001 and 2002, the staff will receive a bonus by decision of the managing director. Such a decision will set out the terms and conditions for granting the bonus. Because results to date have been satisfactory, a bonus of GRD 100,000 will be paid on 1 August 2001 to each employee not holding a management or sub-management position, on terms and conditions to be determined by decision of the managing director.
The main provisions regarding non-pay ("institutional") issues are the following:
- OTE staff (probationary, permanent and temporary under open-ended contracts) who are employed full time and who have children with at least a 67% disability will be given the opportunity from 1 September 2001 to shorten their working day by two hours, with no corresponding loss of pay. In addition, starting on the same date, the working day for staff (probationary, permanent and temporary under open-ended contracts) employed full time and suffering from thalassaemia or either of two types of sickle-cell anaemia will be shortened by two hours;
- the current 12% allowance for unhealthy work will be extended from 1 September 2001 to staff working exclusively and full time on OTE's "central distribution frames". The higher 25% allowance for unhealthy work will be extended on 1 September 2001 to include staff working exclusively and full time on high-voltage amplifiers and in satellite communications centres;
- mothers of infants taking the leave provided for in Law 1483/1984 regarding the "protection and facilitation of workers with family responsibilities – amendments and improvements of labour laws", in order to raise their children until they reach the age of two (TN9801201S), will receive one third of their normal pay;
- OTE has made a commitment to ensure that all the measures required for guaranteeing workers' health and safety are taken;
- OME-OTE will receive the sum of GRD 130 million in 2001 and again in 2002 in order to defray expenses for employee exchanges and trade union education programmes; and
- with regard to the working day, beginning on 1 September 2001 staff will arrive at work at between 08.00 and 09.00 instead of 07.00 and 08.00, as is currently the case. Similarly, they will leave leave work after completing a working day of seven hours and 40 minutes, that is between 15.40 and 16.40, depending on the time that they started work.
It should be noted that the pilot implementation of the 35-hour working week without loss of pay, as foreseen in the 1999-2000 OTE agreement (GR9906136N), has never been carried out. Overall, reduction of working time was not a subject in the bargaining over the new collective agreement.
According to OME-OTE, in spite of delays, the new collective agreement significantly increases the pay of OTE staff as a whole and has attained in the best way the basic aim of the union's demands, which was "to achieve recognition for the contribution of the OTE staff in the growth of the OTE group of companies, which has now become the largest and most powerful telecommunications company in south-eastern Europe".