Roupakiotis said that there would be no problem with the payment of the pensions in the following month but refused to give any assurances concerning August,

July pensions paid as normal, Roupakiotis says

13 Jun 2012

The interim government can guarantee pensions for July, but not beyond that. (photo:Eurokinissi) The payment of pensions in July will take place as normal, caretaker labour and social insurance minister Antonis Roupakiotis told reporters on Wednesday, during his first and last press conference for journalists covering the ministry.   Based on the information supplied by the management of social insurance funds, Roupakiotis said that there would be no problem with the payment of the pensions in the following month but refused to give any assurances concerning August, saying that this was beyond the remit of the caretaker government and minister.   The labour minister confirmed that social insurance fund finances were in a poor state and that the largest social insurance fund IKA would need 1.4 billion euro from the state budget to pay for pensions, while the Manpower Employment Organisation (OAED) would need a further 260 million euro to pay unemployment benefits, despite the fact that only one in five unemployed received unemployment benefit.   Noting that most Greeks paid their social insurance contributions at the end of each month, Roupakiotis said that the financial picture that emerged reflected the true capabilities of social insurance funds and that the payment of contributions had been impacted by the state of the economy. An increase in unemployment by one percent resulted in losses amounting to 450 million euro for the social insurance funds, he added.   The labour minister focused especially on the climate in the labour market, which he said was not so much the result of abolishing the residual duration of collective agreements as of the constant rejection of sectoral labour agreements by employers, who were daily replacing these with company and individual contracts "with significantly less favourable terms". He noted that in many cases, there was even pressure on individual employees to force them to accept these personalised contracts. (AMNA)   http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/11/56275