Franchises at mercy of unions?
December was the worst month in Greece’s recent economic history, with the culmination of financial scandals and street riots rocking the New Democracy government that is on the verge of collapse.
As if last year’s forest fires weren’t enough to hurt the economy, never-ending demonstrations by the powerful unions this year nearly crippled the state because of opposition to labour reforms or the down-sizing and sale of government-owned assets. Added to all this mess was the global financial crisis with hundreds of investors, institutionals and banks in Greece exposed to anything from shares in Lehman Brothers to portfolios handled by Madoff.
The credit crunch has hurt everyone, from the small shopkeepers to the staff in major stores, as well as theirs employers. But a group of people, union leaders in particular, are adamant in driving the Greek economy further into the ground.
Not realizing that a continued deterioration of the economy will result in wholesale layoffs and that the government will not be able to respond, a growing hysteria among labour groups opposes any change to the rigid system that would allow shops to remain open seven days a week, adopting the medieval opinions of the Cyprus unions SEK and PEO and the disgruntled shopkeepers of Povek.
The only thing these people seem to revel in is to blame all the current woes on the dreaded capitalist system of the west, as if seven decades of communist principles brought any real benefit to the working class. What has been achieved by workers around the world is credited to their non-partisan struggles and not the failed ideologies they followed.
Collective action by revolting workers is fast becoming something of the past, as reason seems to prevail and negotiations are replacing the old strong-arm tactics of the union bosses. The desire for mediation is driven by the need to work and continue to earn money, as opposed to depending on a welfare state that could soon go bankrupt, sending everyone to misfortune and poverty.
All the fuss about keeping shops open all around Greece, at a time when UK and U.S. high-street stores are slashing price tags by 50% to 80% simply to attract buyers and maintain some level of liquidity, are similar to the unreasonable arguments in favour of the inflexible labour laws in Cyprus that prevent stores from remaining open on Sundays. If people cannot spend their hard earned euros any day they choose, businesses will lose out. Worse still, instead of planning cutbacks, some companies may even consider abandoning Cyprus altogether, as a major store-chain has contemplated in recent months. And with a growing number of Greek-owned franchises in Cyprus, it is only a matter of time before one of these falls into the trap of union control, as was the case last summer with labour bosses in Greece meddling in the work issues at Jumbo stores in Cyprus.
Greece should get its act together if it wants Cypriot consumers to maintain Athens as their first choice for shopping and bargain hunting.
