Working conditions in Greece deteriorated over last 5 years, Eurobarometer shows

Working conditions in Greece have deteriorated over the last five years, according to responses given by 88 percent of Greeks replying to a Eurobarometer survey released on Thursday. The survey was carried out to investigate the impact of the economic crisis on the quality of working conditions in the European Union.

Based on their responses, 82 pct of Greeks consider that working conditions in the country are "poor" (compared with 43 pct in the EU) and only 16 pct consider them "good" (53 pct in the EU). Next in line in terms of dissatisfaction with working conditions in their country are Hungarians (79 pct), Spanish (76 pct) and Italians (73 pct).

An overwhelming majority of Greeks (88 pct) agreed with the statement 'Have working conditions in your country deteriorated in the last five years?' as opposed to 57 pct of EU citizens, while only 8 pct consider that working conditions have not changed (27 pct in the EU). After Greeks, the Spanish (86 pct), Italians (85 pct), Slovenians (84 pct) and Portuguese (78 pct) had the highest rates of agreement for this question.

Greece is also the only EU country where less than half of the workforce are satisfied with prevailing working conditions, with 62 pct saying they are dissatisfied with conditions in their country, compared with 23 pct in the EU as a whole, and 38 pct saying they are satisfied, compared with 77 pct in the EU. After Greeks, the lowest rate of satisfaction with working conditions is among the Spanish (53 pct).

In terms of working hours, 63 pct of Greeks are satisfied on general lines (80 pct in the EU), and 36 pct are dissatisfied (19 pct in the EU). Rates of satisfaction with the balance of home and work life are also low, with 52 pct of Greeks dissatisfied (25 pct in the EU) and 48 pct satisfied (74 pct in the EU).

In reply to questions on whether they were consulted on changes in the organisation of their work or their conditions of work, 45 pct of Greeks replied affirmatively (54 pct in the EU) and 55 pct negatively (45 pct in the EU).

Just over half (51 pct) of Greeks said they had been informed about the financial state of their company or organisation and its future, including any possible restructuring (63 pct of EU citizens), while 48 pct said no (36 pct in the EU).

In terms of work-related hazards, 56 pct of Greeks said that the main danger to health and safety to which their work exposed them was anxiety (51 pct in the EU), 27 pct reported repetitive movements or bad body posture (28 pct in the EU) and 17 pct to accidents and serious injury (17 pct in the EU).

In addition, 53 pct of Greeks taking the survey said that staff in their workplace was not informed about health and safety measures (22 pct in the EU), 51 pct reported that measures to prevent health problems and workplace accidents had not been taken (37 pct in the EU) and 76 pct said that work places had not been adapted to older age groups (62 pct in the EU).