The International Labour Organization (ILO) reaffirmed its support of the Greek government’s efforts to restore social dialog and collective labor agreements during a meeting between Director-General Guy Ryder and Greek Labor Minister Panos Skourletis on the sidelines of ILO’s 104th International Labour Conference in Geneva on Tuesday.
Ryder and Skourletis discussed the further cooperation between the two sides and the provision of technical support on a number of issues.
Addressing the ILO’s 104th session earlier on Tuesday, Skourletis spoke about the pernicious effect on fiscal adjustment for employment and labor issues in Greece, saying the country had been converted into a testing ground for an economic model that called for the abolition of the legal framework governing labor relations.
Scrapping collective labor bargaining and lowering the minimum wage by up to 32% for young people had resulted in the collapse of the country’s GDP by 23% and sent unemployment levels sky-rocketing from 7.7% to 27.5% and an eye-watering 58% among the young.
This had resulted in the risk of poverty spiking from 22% to 34%, lowered purchasing power among employees by roughly half and sent Greece’s economy sliding down global competitiveness rankings from 67th place to 81st.
(source: ana-mpa)
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