Considerable variations continue to exist in the salaries paid to state and semi-state employees in Greece, despite a law being passed in 2011 establishing uniform pay scales across the public sector and subsequent attempts to apply that law.
Data released by the government displaying the average earnings of ministry employees and workers at some publicly owned companies show that some staff on the state payroll are earning considerably more than their counterparts in the public sector and far more than most private sector employees.
The data shows that while a uniform pay scale may exist in law, it does not exist in reality.
According to the information revealed, one of the top earners on public salaries is the director of the Hellenic Institute for Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies in Venice, who earns a staggering €7,161 gross a month.
Other privileged groups include engineers with university degrees at the Public Power Corporation (DEI) who earn, on average, €3,800 gross a month. Other agencies where degree holders earn, on average, above €3,000 are the Centre for Planning and Economic Research (€3,300), Eaxa, the agency responsible for unifying archaeological sites in Athens (€3,200), gas transmission network operator Desfa (€3,200), and Depanom, the agency that builds and maintains hospitals (€3,100).
At the bottom end of the scale for degree holders are teachers with permanent positions (€1,750), staff at the Invest in Greece agency (€1,700), third-level administrative staff (€1,600), national park rangers on Kefalonia (€1,500), and Athens bus and trolley drivers (€1,350).
The justice ministry provided its total wage bill without including the wages of the country’s 3,737 judges. The ministry of public order and citizen protection – with has authority over the police – also sent aggregate data.
Average salary levels for university graduates also vary greatly among the subsidiaries of Hellenic Railways (OSE): at ErgOSE (the company responsible for building rail infrastructure) the average gross monthly salary is €2,240.72, at GaiaOSE (which administers railway property) it’s €1,938, while those employed by the company that actually runs train services, TrainOSE, earn €1,772.
There are also huge differences in pay in the companies responsible for public transport in Athens. The best off appear to be graduate staff at Attiko Metro (which owns underground in the capital), who earn €2,816.89 on average. Degree holders at Stasy (which runs the metro and ilektriko), earn €2,639.18 and at Oasa, the coordinating body for public transport in Athens, the average graduate pay is €1,364,32. But at OSY (which runs Athens’ buses and trolleys), the same category of staff receive on average €1,347.13.
Variations in average salaries are also evident in agencies under the authority of the environment, energy and climate change ministry. While a university graduate working in the ministry earns on average €2,033, at the Centre For Renewable Energy Sources (CRES) they make €2,540 and at the Public Gas Corporation (Depa) €1,821.50.
According to the statistics, employees at the development and competitiveness ministry and its agencies enjoy above-average higher salaries, with degree holders earning on average €2,672.
The data from the education and religious affairs ministry only contained information on the salaries of teaching staff but not ministry officials.
University professors earn €2,800, associate professors €2,500, senior lecturers €2,200 and lecturers €2,000. For non-teaching staff at universities and technical institutes, the average salary for graduates is €1,600.
The ministry data also shows that the total monthly wage bill at the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki is €7.8m and at the University of Athens €7.6m.
At primary and secondary school level, teachers with a fixed position earn on average €1,750, while those on indefinite contracts earn about €1,325.
At the foreign ministry, some staff are paid according to the general civil service pay scales, while others are on special payrolls.
University graduates working in the ministry each on average €1,600, with staff working abroad entitled to various bonuses.
The finance, health and culture and sports ministries ignored the request to release the salary details of their employees.
Civil servants in Greece are paid according to two criteria: their level of education (whether they have completed university, technical institute, secondary school or compulsory education) and the number of years they have worked.
The above information was provided in response to a parliamentary question, covers 12 of the state’s 18 ministries, and includes pay information for state bodies, agencies and other authorities.
Sources: enetenglish,
ANA-MPA