Athens, 22/2/2019
Ref. 1285
Committee of Petitions of the European Parliament decides to remain open the petition submitted by DOE. Letters to be sent to the Greek Government
Beneficial are the results of the discussion of DOE’s petition (Petition No 0580/2018 on fixed-term contracts for primary school teachers in Greece) on February 20th at the Committee of Petitions of the European Parliament. The Federation with this petition objects to the absence of appointment of permanent staff, for many years now, as well as to the existing inequality between permanent and contract teachers regarding the rights and the payment of the latter ones.
A delegation of the Executive Board of DOE attended the procedures and presented the crucial points of the petition having already informed in depth the Greek deputies of the European Parliament. Committee’s meeting video can be watched at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW8wJWuQR08&feature=youtu.be
It is of great importance for the process of the petition the positive stand adopted by the representative of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment.
The Greek deputies, members of the committee, sent either supporting letters (Sakorafa Sofia, Zarianopoulos Sotiris) or spoke (Marias Epaminondas, Kouneva Konstandina) in favor of the petition.
The whole procedure proved that the submitted petition as well as the additional evidence regarding the work conditions of the contract teachers which were requested from the Executive Board prior to the meeting of the Committee were scrutinized and adopted by the members of the Committee.
DOE underlined during the meeting the infringement of the European Directive 1999/70 by Greece, a fact that had happened with the teachers in Italy and had a positive res judicata by the European Court of Justice.
As many members of the Committee pointed out DOE becomes a trailblazer by aiming pressure to the Greek government and that part of this pressure can likely take Greece to the European Court of Justice if it does not comply with and continue to violate the labor rights of fixed-term contract teachers and treat them unequally.
The Committee’s decision to leave the petition open is positive. In the coming days the Committee will ask the Greek Government to provide explanations on the issues of petition, that is the appointment of permanent teachers (from the Ministry of Education and from the Ministry of Finance) and the violation of the labor rights of contract teachers in relation to the permanent ones (from the Ministry of Labor) and then will be held again to reach its final decisions. These decisions can only positively contribute to the continuous and multifaceted fight of ours for the appointment of permanent teachers and the equalization of the rights of the contract teachers with those with their permanent colleagues.
The Executive Board of DOE will responsibly and closely observe the whole course of the petition and intervene properly alongside the continuous and intensified union actions that have been developed throughout the recent past.
Our fight, in every way, is for the realization of all the needed appointments of permanent teachers as our Union indicates.
Our fight is for the equalization of the rights of the contract teachers with those with their permanent colleagues.
We will continue our fight in every possible way of actions!
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