The final decision regarding the Finance Ministry cleaning staff’s rehiring will not be made until February 24th, announced the Greek Supreme Court this morning. The statement comes after an appeal to postpone the ruling from the attorneys representing the cleaning ladies.
Last June, the staff had won their rehiring in the Supreme Court, but the Finance Ministry appealed the decision almost immediately.
In the days leading up to the previous ruling, the Ministry side argued that the first ruling came from a court without proper jurisdiction in the disputed case. The decision, they claimed, should have been made by an administrative court. The Ministry added that the firing of the cleaning staff was in keeping with Greek public opinion.
Now that the custodial services have been assigned to third-party crews, the Ministry also claimed that, should the original, state-employed cleaning ladies be rehired, the public sector will be doubly burdened: by the current wages, as well as by the 209,000 euros owed for the services of the fired cleaning staff.
Today’s decision is just the latest installment in an ongoing dispute that has polarized Greek public opinion and plagued the ruling coalition government. As the Finance Ministry continues to pursue its case, the Greek State looks more and more like a corrupt institution dead set against hardworking Greeks.
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