About the general proposal by the Deputy Minister of Public Radio-Television, which was informally brought to the attention of ERT S.A. employees’ representatives during their meeting on the 28th of June 2013, the following are noted at first:
I.The position of POSPERT and its employee-members, (with decisions taken through the general assemblies and the established trade union bodies) concerning the issue of the invalid abolishment of ERT S.A. and the illegal lay-off of its staff and the ceasing of operation of the public radio-television in Greece, is known and identifies with the argumentation and the request in the relative appeal, dated 12.06.2013, by POSPERT and others to the Council of the State for the abolishment of the relative Joint Ministerial Decision, which is being brought to trial before the Plenary Session of the Council of the State on the 27th of September 2013.
II.The position of POSPERT and its employee-members concerning the issue of the alleged temporary nature of the illegal ceasing of operation of the public radio-television in Greece is also known and identifies with the argumentation and the request in the appeal, dated 16.06.2013, by POSPERT and others to the Council of the State for the suspension of execution of the relative Joint Ministerial Decision and the granting of a provisional order of the Court to this end. Already, by the relative Provisional Order by the President of the Council of the State, dated 17.06.2013, and subsequently by the unanimous decision, dated 20.06.2013, No. 236/2013, by the Council of the State’s Suspension Committee, it has been decided that even the temporary ceasing of operation of public radio-television is not tolerable and its immediate re-operation was ordered.
III.Furthermore, the position of POSPERT and the employees of ERT S.A. concerning the abolition of ERT S.A., the ceasing of operation of public radio-television and the invalid lay-off of the ERT S.A. employees, has been formulated also with recent extrajudicial protests-statements and invitations that have been properly communicated, and with which the ERT S.A. employees, declare, among others, that:
a)They do not accept the authority of the Joint Ministerial Decision numbered ΟΙΚ. 02/11.6.2013 about the abolition of ERT S.A. and its subsidiary companies,
b)they do not accept the authority of their lay-off on the 12th of June 2013 and are asking for the immediate continuation of the acceptance of their properly offered work, under each one’s specialty and according to the terms valid until the 12th of June 2013,
c) they do not accept the payment to them of any sum (like those that started being paid on the 12th of June 2013) as a severance pay, but they receive any paid sum as a deposit for money owed to them for any reason, as –mainly- for owed accrued earnings and for overdue salaries as a consequence of their invalid lay-off,
d)they shall proceed to any necessary, according to the Law, action before every competent Court and Authority, following the existing Greek and European legislation, in order to safeguard their rights, including an appeal to the European Union Court and the European Human Rights Court.
IV.Within the frame above, the informal proposal by the Deputy Minister of Public Radio-Television that was brought to the attention of the ERT S.A. employees’ representatives on the 28th of June 2013, must be specified, in order to be fit for analysis and evaluation by those concerned.
In particular, it is noted that:
1)Concerning its parts 1, 2 and 3 (way of calculation the ERT S.A. employees’ severance pay and its height, inclusion in the early retirement incentives within the mobility frame and system of “points” awarded due to former experience for the inclusion in a new public broadcaster, respectively), they have to do with future regulations, for which the political commitment for their promotion and establishment is expressed, but they do not exist at the moment, not even at a specific content decree plan, and it is also unknown if their realisation will be feasible, beyond any political intention, and for legal and financial reasons, also given the fact that more parameters are involved in the establishment of these exceptional regulations, which are probably connected to broader issues about the exercise of labour, social security and fiscal policy by the government. Consequently, they must be brought to the attention of those concerned, with a concrete form and formulation, and with the provision of a specific timeframe for the promotion and implementation, so that they can be evaluated.
2)Concerning part 4 (inclusion in an intermediate broadcaster of 2,000 employees with two-month employment contracts etc), it is observed that the relevant provision will most probably run into a series of legal and real problems, given the fact that, with it, it is probable that there is violation of the protective for the employees legislation provisions about lay-offs and enterprise transfer, but also probably of the procedures for the access to employment in the public sector, of the ASEP (Supreme Council of Staff Selection) etc. Consequently, this procedure can probably be affronted before the competent Courts of Law by any one concerned and therefore be proclaimed, already for this reason, irrelevant.
In any case, in order for the first evaluation of this provision to be feasible, it is necessary that it is as well accompanied by a relevant document plan (legislation provisions for the establishment of the intermediate broadcaster, legislation provisions for the hiring of staff in it, plans of employment contracts in it, as well as any relevant opinion by the ASEP).
Based on the above, and given the validity of the positions mentioned above (I, II and III) by the POSPERT and the ERT S.A. employees, comes as a result that the continuing compromising of public interest, as far as both the uninterrupted operation of public radio-television, and the safeguarding of public property are concerned, but also the continuing infringement of the labour rights of the ERT S.A. employees, can be effectively dealt with if the Greek State, also complying with the Provisional Order and the Decision of the Council of the State’s Suspension Committee, allows the continuation of operation of all the production media and personnel that make up the only existing public radio-television broadcaster, which does not necessitate complicated and problematic in every aspect constructions, like the one of the intermediate broadcaster, until the promoted regulations are specified, concerning the establishment of a new public radio-television broadcaster, which will be examined by POSPERT and the ERT S.A. employees concerned and are not the subject of the present.
Any different approach by the Greek State will have to be, in order to be susceptive to analysis and evaluation, in the form of a concrete proposal, with full formulation, after a relevant legislative drafting and techno-economic analysis and evaluation, even in the form of a plan, accompanied by a correspondent realisation timeframe, according to the above.
All Rights Reserved,
For POSPERT,
the President the Secretary General
Panayiotis Kalfayiannis Tassos Avratoglou
