Greek Perks

If you ever wondered why the Greek economy was in need of a big bail-out from the European Union - here's a story from the BBC web site which helps to explain how public spending in certain areas was allowed to escalate out of control.

Now awarding civil servants an extra six days holiday a year just for using a computer sounds completely bonkers - as does the practice of paying employees a bonus just for turning up for work.

But I remember a somewhat similar agreement being struck in Scotland not that long ago - by Edinburgh District Council in the early 1990s, if I recall correctly - under which the Council awarded an extra 3 days annual leave as part of a new local agreement on the use of 'new technology'.

The local agreement applied only to 'white collar' workers - not 'blue collar' or manual workers and the unions representing these groups of staff (NUPE, GMB and TGWU) all regarded the move as a complete waste of money - as well as unfair on their own members. 

So while while the holiday perks of Greek civil servants might cause you to scratch your head in amazement - maybe there's some truth after all in that old description of Edinburgh as the Athens of the North

Greek civil servants lose holiday perks for computer use

Greek Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the annual leave perk belonged to another era

The Greek authorities have scrapped six days of extra holiday awarded to civil servants for using computers, as part of its austerity drive.

The privilege was granted in 1989 to all who worked on a computer for more than five hours a day.

However, Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, speaking on Greek TV, said the custom "belonged to another era",

The decision comes as part of the government's reform of the public sector in a bid to meet bailout terms.

Greece received two bailouts from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) totalling about 240bn euros (£200bn; $318bn) on the condition that the government imposes cuts and implements restructuring.

The working hours saved by scrapping the computer leave would be the equivalent of an extra 5,000 employees, Mr Mitsotakis told Skai TV on Thursday.

He described it as "small, yet symbolic" step in modernising an outdated civil service. Mr Mitsotakis is the man in charge of overhauling public institutions.

Other perks that have already been scrapped include a bonus for showing up to work and passing on a dead father's pension to his unmarried daughters.

In July, the Greek parliament approved plans to reform the public sector, placing up to 25,000 public sector workers into a mobility pool by the end of the year, when they will either face redeployment or redundancy.

The Greek economy has shrunk further than any other in Europe, with an employment rate of 27%.