PRECARIAT is based on more than 100 interviews that were conducted by the six researchers in Greece regarding the transformations of labour market during the crisis.  The interviews were carried out in the big urban centres and smaller peripheral cities  (Athens, Thessaloniki, Volos, Sparta, Paros and Lesbos islands).

Here is a sample of first-hand accounts by informants. A series of publications will follow the collection of the datasets, stay tuned in the website for further information.

“Till 2004, working as a self-employed for a public body occurred a first step to become a public servant.  There were expectations for a stable working relationship. […] However, we lost too much time trying to interpret legislation about the criteria that someone can become a public servant with a permanent position and we didn’t notice the emerging labor market landscape - 3-months-breaks between contracts, not clearly identified object of work. We work full time, with no holidays other than university's official days off, and have to sign an offensive fake declaration that we are not covering fixed and permanent needs.”
(T.B.) – self-employed who works at a public university)

“IT, cleaning, real estate, call operators are outsourced. Those people are not allowed to do bank operations. However, somehow those "outsourced" employees are found in all departments of the bank doing the same work with regular employees, but cheaper and with longer working schedule. This creates a competition between regular and outsourced employees that makes the first more willing to accept unlawful practices that worsen their working standards.”
(T.C. – bank employee)

“The labor market was over regulated and suffered due to the many benefits given to the employees that were covered through credit. This was particularly evident in the sectoral and same-profession agreements, which were binding until 2010 and created a pressure to the firms to meet these requirements together with high taxation and high insurance contribution. This had as a consequence to make Greek firms less competitive and restrain them in the domestic market.”
(E.G. – Employer Association representative)

“The increased protection in some areas of labor legislation compensated for the low levels of social security (ie high protection against dismissals, very little security for the unemployed). Part time work was legislated before 2010 but it was unpopular because of the very low levels of pay.   Moreover, illegal flexibility in the labor market didn't create any need to institutionalise flexibility”
(L.Z. - academic)

“There was a simultaneous devaluation of all the public structures and especially of labor inspectorate, which is evident from its organization chart- 209 positions were abolished out of 900+, as well as 7 directories. Among those were the legal and informational system department. Inspectors have no legal support in their work and their cases might fall in the court because of this. This way, labor relations become more flexible because employers know that they won’t be inspected. In 2013, undeclared work was 30% in sectors of low compliance with labor legislation. It’s necessary to map/analyse the spread and width of unlawfulness.”
(J.O. –Government official)

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