The push for the reinstatement of holiday bonuses for public sector employees is set to continue both in the courts and in Greece’s parliament.
All private sector workers in Greece receive holiday bonuses as stipulated in the National General Labor Code of 2010 and the Individual Labor Law Code. The bonuses are calculated based on a worker’s salary and the amount of time they have worked for an employer, and equal a 13th and 14th salary over the course of a year.
These bonuses were eliminated for public sector workers under the Medium-Term Fiscal Strategy Framework (Law 4093/2012) austerity measures imposed during Greece’s long economic crisis.
The reinstatement of these benefits has been an ongoing demand of public sector workers’ unions.
Famellos announced that SYRIZA would introduce a parliamentary initiative to restore the 13th and 14th salaries in the public sector in a photo-op visit to the National Rehabilitation Center in Ilion on Friday morning.
Famellos toured the facilities and then met with the employees. In his conversation with them, he was informed that half of the staff consists of contract workers and that due to the retirements that occur, experienced personnel are not being replaced.
Famellos stated that SYRIZA will submit the amendment to Parliament in order to exert pressure on the government. Apparently, SYRIZA is calling on all progressive parties to support this initiative.
“A staffed and equipped public sector means a strong state and a safe society. Greece deserves a safe society,” stated Famellos.
Also on Friday, the Three-Member Committee of Article 1 of Law 3900/2010 of the Council of State, with its PN 2/16.1.2025 act, accepted to hear a model trial on the payment of holiday bonuses and leave allowances filed by Greece’s public sector union.
ADEDY, Greece’s largest public sector trade union, had submitted a formal request to the Council of State to examine the possibility of reinstating the Greek holiday bonus for public sector workers at the impetus of a lawsuit filed by a civil servant at the Athens Administrative Court of First Instance seeking the reinstatement of these payments.
The union’s request argued that maintaining the abolition of these allowances violates constitutional principles including proportionality, social solidarity, and the state’s obligation to ensure social justice. It also invoked EU Directive 2022/2041 on adequate minimum wages and Article 31 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which includes the right to fair working conditions as reasons for reinstating the bonuses.
