About 3,000-4,000 seasonal workers in Corfu left without unemployment benefit
unemployment benefit
10 Nov 2021
/ 20:55
CORFU. The terms and conditions for receiving unemployment benefit create serious problems.
Hundreds of seasonal workers in Corfu, who will not receive this year the unemployment benefit of OAED, are being financially drained. According to the Corfu Labour Centre President Stamatis Pelais, of the total of 15,000 seasonal hotel, catering and tourism workers, it is estimated that about 3,000-4,000 are not eligible for unemployment benefit – making their own and their family's survival a challenge.
Hundreds of seasonal workers are in despair due to these developments, since the money they made during summer is in no way enough to cover the winter expenses nor the increases in many goods and services. “People of the industry are upset. Summer income was minimal, there was a lot of hard work, hoteliers did not hire staff and there was no wage increase either and now they are in danger of being left without unemployment benefit,” Mr. Pelais told Enimerosi.
50 stamps
He said that, even if some people managed to acquire 50 stamps this year in order to receive unemployment benefit, they still do not meet the second requirement, which is to have acquired 85 stamps in 2020! Meanwhile, those whose work contracts have been suspended during May and June and did not work even after that period – either because their employers did not re-hire them or because the businesses they worked for did not operate this year – are not eligible for the unemployment benefit, as are those who did not work this year even though they have 50 stamps from the period they were suspended.
“When seasonal workers were given the 60-day deadline to apply for unemployment benefit, they did not have enough stamps, because at the time 100 were required. Subsequently, around September 20, the government reduced the number of stamps to 50, but those interested had already missed the deadline,” explained Mr. Pelais.
Problems were made known in time
The Corfu Catering & Tourism Employees' Union had made the problems regarding the terms and conditions for receiving unemployment benefit known to the Employment Minister Kostas Hadjidakis, the Corfu ND MP Stefanos Gikas and the OAED Director Spyros Protopsaltis in time, during the Minister’s visit on the island, but without receiving any response.
Result of protests
Yesterday, however, and under the pressure of protests by Labour Unions throughout the country on the problem of a large number of seasonal workers being left without unemployment benefit, the Employment Ministry General Secretary Mrs. Stratinaki, committed, in a meeting she had with a delegation of workers in Athens, that the stamps of this year's suspension of work by mid-November, as well as the ones from last year by the end of the month, will appear at the National Social Security Institution (EFKA). As Mr. Pelais pointed out, due to this problem, it was not possible to receive benefits, pensions, leave, etc.
400-day limit
However, Mr. Pelais said that an upcoming amendment regarding the 400-day limit over the last 4 years causes concern. That is, if the two-month extension in the spring of 2020 and 2021 is counted as regular unemployment, the 400-day limit will be exceeded and, therefore, “no one will receive unemployment benefit. Given the pandemic and the problems it has caused on labour relations, we are asking for an unemployment benefit without terms and conditions,” he concluded.
Hundreds of seasonal workers are in despair due to these developments, since the money they made during summer is in no way enough to cover the winter expenses nor the increases in many goods and services. “People of the industry are upset. Summer income was minimal, there was a lot of hard work, hoteliers did not hire staff and there was no wage increase either and now they are in danger of being left without unemployment benefit,” Mr. Pelais told Enimerosi.
50 stamps
He said that, even if some people managed to acquire 50 stamps this year in order to receive unemployment benefit, they still do not meet the second requirement, which is to have acquired 85 stamps in 2020! Meanwhile, those whose work contracts have been suspended during May and June and did not work even after that period – either because their employers did not re-hire them or because the businesses they worked for did not operate this year – are not eligible for the unemployment benefit, as are those who did not work this year even though they have 50 stamps from the period they were suspended.
“When seasonal workers were given the 60-day deadline to apply for unemployment benefit, they did not have enough stamps, because at the time 100 were required. Subsequently, around September 20, the government reduced the number of stamps to 50, but those interested had already missed the deadline,” explained Mr. Pelais.
Problems were made known in time
The Corfu Catering & Tourism Employees' Union had made the problems regarding the terms and conditions for receiving unemployment benefit known to the Employment Minister Kostas Hadjidakis, the Corfu ND MP Stefanos Gikas and the OAED Director Spyros Protopsaltis in time, during the Minister’s visit on the island, but without receiving any response.
Result of protests
Yesterday, however, and under the pressure of protests by Labour Unions throughout the country on the problem of a large number of seasonal workers being left without unemployment benefit, the Employment Ministry General Secretary Mrs. Stratinaki, committed, in a meeting she had with a delegation of workers in Athens, that the stamps of this year's suspension of work by mid-November, as well as the ones from last year by the end of the month, will appear at the National Social Security Institution (EFKA). As Mr. Pelais pointed out, due to this problem, it was not possible to receive benefits, pensions, leave, etc.
400-day limit
However, Mr. Pelais said that an upcoming amendment regarding the 400-day limit over the last 4 years causes concern. That is, if the two-month extension in the spring of 2020 and 2021 is counted as regular unemployment, the 400-day limit will be exceeded and, therefore, “no one will receive unemployment benefit. Given the pandemic and the problems it has caused on labour relations, we are asking for an unemployment benefit without terms and conditions,” he concluded.
