Brussels, 14/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 14 October 2009, the European Commission decided not to raise any objections to the plans of the Greek authorities to cover part of the costs of the voluntary redundancy scheme that former Olympic Airways subsidiary Olympic Catering SA plans to implement for some of its staff in order to help it start making profits again. The aid believes the aid is necessary and does not go beyond what is required to help the company cope with the abnormal costs arising from its past status as a state company.
Olympic Catering has its hands tied when it comes to human resources because staff recruited since the company was founded in 1976 until its privatisation in 2002 were employed under the same labour and social protection conditions as all other employees of the Olympic Airways group, such as guaranteed employment and better benefits than in the private sector, even when the company was privatised. It is therefore virtually impossible to make people accept non-voluntary redundancy. In order to respond to pressure from the open market, Olympic Catering has to reduce its staffing levels and because it cannot carry out 'normal' redundancies (due to lack of cash, for example), it has to encourage staff to take early retirement and the state aid in question will help in this process.
After examining the issue, the European Commission believes that the aid simply meets the highly specific needs of the company arising from its privatisation in 2002. The €29 million in aid from the Greek state 'does not exceed the extra burden imposed on Olympic Catering,' explains the Commission. The measure covers some 121 members of staff (around a quarter of the workforce). (C.D. trans fl)