Yet Another Piece of Pension Reform in Greece

Union Structures and Pension Outcomes in Greece

“…In fact, as many authors, including this one, have argued elsewhere (Ananiadis forthcoming; Featherstone 2005; Featherstone et al . 2001; Matsaganis 2002, 2005; Sotiropoulos 2004; Triantafillou 2005; Zambarloukou 2006), all of the factors listed above have played some part in this tale. Rather, the union focus here is motivated by a modest wish to shed light on hitherto neglected aspects of the problem of pension reform in Greece by drawing on recent research into the competing role of encompassing versus narrow interests (Anderson and Lynch 2007; Anderson and Meyer 2003; Ebbinghaus and Hassel 2000; Natali and Rhodes 2004b; Schludi 2005).…”

“…The confederal unions called a general strike, while the parliamentary opposition from left and right attacked the plan and prominent figures of the socialist party also took their distance. Isolated, the government decided to withdraw its pension plan and call, yet again, for ‘social dialogue’ (Featherstone 2005; Matsaganis 2002; Triantafillou 2005; Zambarloukou 2006).…”

“…As pointed out earlier, union opposition to pension reform was only one of the reasons it failed. Other factors were also at play, including the government's inept negotiating approach and, more generally, the weakness of corporatist institutions, the unreliability of many employers as social partners, the pervasiveness of an adversarial political culture, and the low level of trust in society (Ananiadis forthcoming;Diamandouros 1994;Union Structure and Pension Outcomes in Greece 549 Featherstone 2005;Kazakos 2004;Lyberaki and Tsakalotos 2002;Matsaganis 2005;Sotiropoulos 2004;Voulgaris 2001;Zambarloukou 2006). All these factors provide the context in which negotiations take place, affecting their outcome in ways that often reinforce union intransigence.…”

Collective Bargaining and Social Pacts: Greece in Comparative Perspective

“…This issue was on the agenda for many years: the system was highly fragmented and delivered very unequal benefits to different occupational groups and different generations, and there were widespread doubts as to its viability (Matsanganis, 2002). In 2001 the centre-left PASOK government put forward a reform plan, and invited unions and employers to discuss the proposed changes.…”

Origins of reform resistance and the Southern European regime

“…Southern European trade unions are not only characterized by a narrow traditional alignment to certain political parties of the left (Fulton, 2011) but also by a strong influence of pensioners and public sector employees: For example, almost half of the members of Italian trade unions are retired and all major Italian trade unions have their majority of members in the public sector (Namuth, 2013). Pensions are not generous in general because even the pension systems introduce new inequities: In Greece, pension rules favor the selfemployed over wage earners, public over private employees, middle-aged contributors over younger ones, standard over non-standard workers, and men over (most) women (Matsaganis, 2002).…”