Newsroom
Municipal employees who took part in the recent strike should not be paid for the period they were absent from work, according to Antonis Oikonomidis, Director of Local Government at the Interior Ministry.
Speaking on SPOR FM, Oikonomidis said staff who left municipal buildings to participate in the work stoppage should not receive pay for that time. He said he had been informed that employees would nevertheless be paid in full, "as if they had been working."
Oikonomidis also argued that municipal workers were not directly affected by the issue of state funding for local authorities and therefore should not have joined the strike.
Commenting on government funding, he said the annual state grant to municipalities remained at €70.8 million from 2012 until 2023. Under the local government reform, the amount was increased to €117 million from 2024.
Asked about staffing levels in municipalities, Oikonomidis said unnecessary recruitment should be stopped and suggested that voluntary retirement schemes should be introduced as part of efforts to manage personnel numbers.
