Commerce
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The Commerce and Distribution sector represents for our country, one of the most dynamic sectors of Greek economy, as they account for the 35% of the total number of the enterprises, the 14% of the total employment and generated about the 14% of the GDP during the last decade.

Based on these figures, Greek commerce is an important factor in the welfare of the national economy and an essential sector that creates prospects for economic growth and employment.

More specifically, the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are dominant in Greek commerce, because the companies with employment of 1-20 persons represent more than 90% of the total commercial companies and provide employment to the 50% of the total employed persons in the sector. Also it is important to note that, commerce equally offers employment both to self-employed businesspersons and to wage earners, with only a slight increase of wage earners in recent years. Finally, the employment of women in the sector represents almost the 50% of the employed.

Commerce is for our country a sector that continues to create new jobs. According to official estimates, the new jobs created in commerce in 1998 were 25.000, a figure that represents the 20% of the new jobs created in services and the 50% of the jobs created in the industry sector in the same year.

Despite the contribution of commerce in the creation of new jobs, unemployment in Greece reached in 1999 the 11,6 of the workforce, as a result of the slow pace of growth and the non-actual convergence of our economy.

Today Greek commerce, faces problems as well as challenges and perspectives, related to a number of issues like:

• the increased competition as a result of the market globalisation
• the trend towards concentration, which severely presses certain sectors of commerce
• the weakness of the public authorities to make sufficient use of the National Competition Committee and to create an effective legal framework ensuring equal terms of competition between the SMEs and the large commercial groups, usually of multinational origin
• the difficulties of the commercial SMEs have access in the finance system and to community aid schemes
• the necessity of the SMEs to make effective use of the new technologies, like Internet and electronic commerce
• the potential of developing joint ventures between tourism and local commerce and the need to support small commerce in mountainous, less-favoured and island areas.
• the need to create personnel with advanced professional skills and knowledge

Within this framework, ESEE and OIYE believe that the adaptation and the modernisation of the commercial companies in the new competitive and internationalised environment can be combined not only with the maintenance of the existing commercial companies and jobs, but as well as the creation of new jobs. This combination is a priority issue for the two sides.

The two organisations are committed to encourage the creation of new jobs and fight unemployment, promoting a series of joint actions and initiatives with the purpose of creating favourable conditions for the growth of the sector and its human resources. To this direction, the two organisations are a respectful part voice to the government, which has to adopt and promote measures that will be decided by the three sides.

The common actions and initiatives of the two organisations have to sustain certain objectives, which are necessary for the creation of new jobs in the sector through its further development, like:

• the creation of a good entrepreneurship climate and the arriving of new reliable business persons in the commerce
• the successful adoption of the new technologies and the active role of the employees in this process
• the identification and development of new professional profiles and skills
• the modernisation of the terms of making business, through new forms of cooperations
• the need to facilitate the access of the commercial SMEs to finance schemes
• providing incentives to SMEs for co-operation and mergers
• creating conditions that will ensure the self-respect, the employment, the good labour relations and the qualitative forms of work of the employees in the sector with an emphasis in the substantial improvement of the workforce and its services
• creating employees and executives with improved perspectives of professional career in the sector and creating also a stable access to the "external" labour market to cover the needs.
• enhancing the common efforts in the field of vocational education and training and developing responsibility
• assisting to the creation of a healthy competition framework, in view of the uncontrolled and with no rules penetration of the retail companies into the market.

The National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce and the Greek Federation of Private Employees, representing the two sides of the labour market in the commerce sector are committed to continue their cooperation with actions and initiatives which will support the maintenance and the promotion of the employment, especially in the following fields

1. Study on the trends and the perspectives of the sector and its employment

 

Greek commerce is already undergoes a series of structural changes from the on-going globalisation and competition. For this reason it is necessary a thorough analysis of the impacts that these changes have to the employment and the workforce as well as to the forms of employment. This study is related to the establishment and operation of the Observatory of Greek commerce, which will analyse all the figures and statistics of the sector. The increased information from the Observatory of Greek Commerce will lead to a rationalisation of the decisions that will influence the future of the sector. The two organisations agree that the Observatory will collect and analyse the figures on employment, the workforce, the vocational training etc.

 

2. Study on the impact of the development of the new technologies in the commerce sector, in the employment and in the occupational profiles

The fast development and introduction of new technologies in the companies and in commercial transactions together with the intensive competition, creates new increased needs for the enterprises and the employees to adopt themselves and follow the developments. The development of the electronic commerce has important impacts on the forms and work practices and there is a need to identify and analyse the qualifications, the skills and the aptitudes of the employees in the sector. Already, ESEE and OIYE in cooperation at the national level participate in the European pilot project of Social Dialogue on "the training needs of the development of the electronic commerce in European commerce", of which a substantial part of pilot implementation will take place in Greece. The two sides commit themselves to enforce this initiative widening it with the study on the impact of the new technologies --apart from this of electronic commerce--- on the changes in the work organisation and the content of new jobs

ESEE and OIYE recognise the important role that education and vocational training of the sector's employees can play as concerns the maintenance and the promotion of the employment. The two organisations, are already cooperate in this field from 1995. Nevertheless, there is an increased need to enforce this cooperation with the objective to have positive results in the sector. For this reason ESEE and OIYE agree in the following:

1. to establish a permanent committee for education and vocational training, which meet at least four times per year in order to evaluate and to suggest common actions in this field at a continuous basis
2. to adopt the European Memorandum on the vocational training in commerce signed by the commerce European Social Partners in 1988 and to specify the implementation of its guidelines for our country
3. to cooperate in the implementation of short training programmes for salespersons that are financed by the joint fund "LAEK" (fund for the vocational training and the unemployment) and targeted to the employees of the commercial companies. For this reason ESEE undertakes the responsibility to organise all over the country such training programmes with the LAEK finance and OIYE undertakes the responsibility to support the participation of the employees in these programmes through its affiliated unions all over Greece.
4. To deepen the cooperation in the field of creation innovative educational material for self-employed and wage earners in the sector, through the use of community programmes like L.D.V. Socrates. To introduce this material in the programmes of initial vocational training with the cooperation of Manpower Employment Organisation (OAED)

ESEE and OIYE reassure the Agreement on Shop Opening Hours, signed in 1997 between all the commerce social partners and was approved by the Greek government with the Decision No 1162/97 of the Ministers of Economy and Labour. ESEE and OIYE believe that this legal framework on shop opening hours is a result of Social Dialogue, represents a point of balance between the need of companies, employees and the consumers and has assisted towards to equal competition terms. From this point of view, has a positive impact as concerns employment and creation of new jobs. ESEE and OIYE are strongly against in any effort to change this framework.

ESEE and OIYE recognise that, for the promotion of the employment in the commerce sector there is increased need for close cooperation with the government in order to -through a 3-side dialogue-- to create sectoral interventions with the objective to provide incentives to enterprised and especially to SMEs. They also agree that, the general issues of employment and unemployment have to do with a global measures and policies of the government and the E.U. Additionally, these issues are in the agenda of the Greek inter proffessional social dialogue. At this agenda the commerce sector has to be taken into account.

In this context, the two sided commit themselves to elaborate a common text to the government, in which specific measures will be proposed and could promote employment. Such measures could be:

1. fair taxation for SMEs
2. revision of the policies on the housing of commerce companies with the objective to decrease the burden of their costs
3. establishment of effective law framework and control mechanisms on the terms of market competition as well as effective control of the labour market on the basis of the national and European legislation
4. taking effective measures in cooperation with the local and regional self-government to combat black commerce, which is an extended phenomenon in our country and has negative impacts on employment and the public income.

Common goal of the two organisations is the improvement of competitiveness of the commercial companies and the work and wage security of the employees combined with their skills and productivity.

ESEE and OIYE, in the context of the present joint statement and having regarded the national and European policies on employment and growth in the commerce sector, will continuously evaluate their initiatives and will elaborate a report of activities each year. They finally declare, that they will continue their social dialogue, in order to make commerce an attractive sector for employment and creator of more new jobs.

For ESEE For OIYE

Christos Folias Metaxia Stekoulea Thanos Vasilopoulos

President President General Secretary

e-mail addresses:
Geneva:
jan.furstenborg@union-network.org
frieda.gazzini@union-network.org
Brussels:
marie.simonsen@union-network.org
Bonn/Sarajevo Project Offices:
alexruedig@aol.com