5 ms·

It's a whole bunch of toxic factors working synergistically. The Greek economy is dominated by low-wage tourist-oriented businesses, a whopping 20-30% of emplo

It's a whole bunch of toxic factors working synergistically. The Greek economy is dominated by low-wage tourist-oriented businesses, a whopping 20-30% of employed people are directly involved in them. And they have to compete against Turkey, Egypt, and other low-income countries. These businesses simply cannot pay high salaries, there's no profit margin for it. So people don't want to work in these miserable conditions, and business owners have problems attracting labor.

dotcoma 2y ago
...and so they make it mandatory to work 6 days a week ??
- Arnt 2y ago
  Greece has a lot of businesses with seven-day working weeks. Hotels, that kind of thing. This rule change says, AIUI, that you can't work in that kind of job and insist on a five day working week. The money of working hours per week is unchanged.
cool_dude85 2y ago
Is it still common to expect workers to pay government-mandated bonuses back to their bosses in cash? I know this was a common practice some years ago.
- stavros 2y ago
  I wouldn't say "common to expect", I'd say "bosses blackmail workers into it".
stavros 2y ago
Those low-wage tourist-oriented businesses are making crazy high margins and paying workers peanuts. Beaches keep getting gobbled up by multimillion-euro hotel complexes (unconstitutionally) so they can make money hand over fist by taking advantage of public property (with the appropriate kickbacks to the local politicians), while the local economy benefits minimally from whatever minimum-wage jobs are created in the process.
- cyberax 2y ago
  > Those low-wage tourist-oriented businesses are making crazy high margins and paying workers peanuts. They are really not. I looked into this in 2019, when I was making a backup plan to get an investor visa in the EU. You can buy a hotel business in Greece for basically peanuts, but it is almost impossible to make _any_ profit without resorting to shady tactics. That's also why large chains can move in so easily. They can spread a lot of expenses and risks across multiple properties. It's not a healthy situation to be in.
  - stavros 2y ago
    I'll trust your analysis, but how do you explain the extremely high prices nowadays? I went to a beach yesterday, and they wanted 75 EUR to rent an umbrella and two beds for a few hours. That's three days' wages for a Greek, how is this a low-margin business? Opex is minimal (basically bar staff), Capex is minimal (a bunch of beds and umbrellas), where's all the money going? Maybe it's only hotels that are low-margin, with Airbnb being a competitor, but otherwise everything is too expensive for any Greek to afford to go on vacation in our own country any more. The money must be going somewhere.
    - vidanay 2y ago
      > The money must be going somewhere. > with the appropriate kickbacks to the local politicians
    - cyberax 2y ago
      The answer is very simple: corruption. Umbrella business owners are likely paying off the local government and/or organized crime to keep competitors off.
    - nexxer 2y ago
      It's down to supply and demand. You get a license from local govenrment, buy some nice furniture, hire some young people, and set up shop offering a nice looking product of beach access with food, drinks, service at your umbrella, for 75 euro. More if you want front row beach access. You do leave the required free space for the public to put down their own umbrella (or not!). If you're the only shop on that particular beach, and it's a nice beach, people will come, and to enough of them your product will look "sexier" than the public beach area. By paying for it, they solve a need of theirs (beach fun) and can also brag about paying for it on social media.

dotcoma 2y ago

...and so they make it mandatory to work 6 days a week ??

Arnt 2y ago
Greece has a lot of businesses with seven-day working weeks. Hotels, that kind of thing. This rule change says, AIUI, that you can't work in that kind of job and insist on a five day working week. The money of working hours per week is unchanged.

cool_dude85 2y ago

Is it still common to expect workers to pay government-mandated bonuses back to their bosses in cash? I know this was a common practice some years ago.

stavros 2y ago
I wouldn't say "common to expect", I'd say "bosses blackmail workers into it".

stavros 2y ago

Those low-wage tourist-oriented businesses are making crazy high margins and paying workers peanuts. Beaches keep getting gobbled up by multimillion-euro hotel complexes (unconstitutionally) so they can make money hand over fist by taking advantage of public property (with the appropriate kickbacks to the local politicians), while the local economy benefits minimally from whatever minimum-wage jobs are created in the process.

cyberax 2y ago
> Those low-wage tourist-oriented businesses are making crazy high margins and paying workers peanuts. They are really not. I looked into this in 2019, when I was making a backup plan to get an investor visa in the EU. You can buy a hotel business in Greece for basically peanuts, but it is almost impossible to make _any_ profit without resorting to shady tactics. That's also why large chains can move in so easily. They can spread a lot of expenses and risks across multiple properties. It's not a healthy situation to be in.
- stavros 2y ago
  I'll trust your analysis, but how do you explain the extremely high prices nowadays? I went to a beach yesterday, and they wanted 75 EUR to rent an umbrella and two beds for a few hours. That's three days' wages for a Greek, how is this a low-margin business? Opex is minimal (basically bar staff), Capex is minimal (a bunch of beds and umbrellas), where's all the money going? Maybe it's only hotels that are low-margin, with Airbnb being a competitor, but otherwise everything is too expensive for any Greek to afford to go on vacation in our own country any more. The money must be going somewhere.
  - vidanay 2y ago
    > The money must be going somewhere. > with the appropriate kickbacks to the local politicians
  - cyberax 2y ago
    The answer is very simple: corruption. Umbrella business owners are likely paying off the local government and/or organized crime to keep competitors off.
  - nexxer 2y ago
    It's down to supply and demand. You get a license from local govenrment, buy some nice furniture, hire some young people, and set up shop offering a nice looking product of beach access with food, drinks, service at your umbrella, for 75 euro. More if you want front row beach access. You do leave the required free space for the public to put down their own umbrella (or not!). If you're the only shop on that particular beach, and it's a nice beach, people will come, and to enough of them your product will look "sexier" than the public beach area. By paying for it, they solve a need of theirs (beach fun) and can also brag about paying for it on social media.