Labor Ministry

The Social Security Foundation (IKA) is the social security system's ball and chain, as just a couple of months before its incorporation into the new Single Social Security Entity (EFKA), its employees are warning about the levels of its revenues and payouts.

Part-time or shift work has now become the norm in the Greek labor market, accounting for six out of every 10 new jobs created last month, according to Labor Ministry figures that reveal unprecedented changes in the features of employment in Greece.

An independent panel of social security experts has proposed a new minimum salary of 527.40 euros for the first year at work and of 556.70 euros for the second.

This is an increase from the 511 euros that applies today for people aged up to 25 years old and represents the first time a link between the minimum wage and workers' experience has been proposed.

OAEE, the social security fund for the self-employed, has seen its deficit increase and is again asking for additional financing via the special reserves of the Social Security Capital for the Solidarity of Generations (AKAGE).

Riot police forces intervened outside the Labor Ministry in central Athens when a group of hotel industry employees taking part in a rally attempted to enter the building on Tuesday. There were no reports of injuries or arrests.

The rally was organized by the union of employees working in tourism, hotels and catering companies in Athens in protest to changes in their pension scheme.

The planned Single Social Security Entity (EFKA), which will include all the existing funds, appears doomed to failure before it even gets off the drawing board, as the mammoth fund's draft budget looks set to post a huge deficit from its first year of operations.

Despite the excessive taxes imposed on the sector, tourism has been the one industry propped up the Greek economy this year, as other sectors showed signs of fatigue and decline, data presented on Wednesday by the Association of Hellenic Tourism Enterprises (SETE) showed.

Several unions representing Greek retirees from several different sectors are to join forces on Friday in a demonstration outside the Labor Ministry to protest the latest round of cuts to pensions.

Members of the groups are to meet at central Klafthmonos Square before marching to the ministry.

A mobile unit providing hygiene and healthcare services to the homeless will hit the streets of the capital by mid-September, authorities said on Thursday.

The project was initiated by the Praksis NGO and is being launched in cooperation with the Labor Ministry.

A pensioner holds up two 5-euro notes during a protest against additional cuts to auxiliary pensions outside the Labor Ministry, in Athens, Tuesday. Meanwhile, European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said that part of Greece's bailout funding would go toward meeting delayed pension payments.