The Federation of Administrative Staff in Higher Education (ODPTE) had filed a complaint against the Minister of Administrative Reform Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Education Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos.
The administrative employees are demanding that the Minister suspend the deadline for submitting their details in order to carry out the evaluation and suspensions. The federation claims that the Ministers’ threat of immediate suspension on failure to comply with their order infringes the constitutionally-protected right to strike.
The Rector of the University of Athens Theodosis Pelegrinis sent two letters, in one asked from the Ministers of Finances and Administrative Reform to suspend the suspension measure “for a reasonable amount of time”, so that the University can be allowed to operate “under conditions of reconciliation, meritocracy and calmness”. In his other letter addressed to the Minister of Public Order Nikos Dendias, Mr. Pelegrinis explained that the planned suspension of the entire security staff department will result in the institution’s buildings and assets being totally unprotected.
On Thursday representatives of the Universities attended an initiative of the MEP Nikos Chrysogelos at the European Parliament, where they referred to the effects of the suspension measure and the underfunding of higher education. The representatives stressed that the government was being hasty and irresponsible and demanded that a proper evaluation takes place in order to reach safe conclusions regarding staff needs.
Meanwhile the Prosecutor of Thessaloniki has brought misconduct and breach of duty charges against the University of Thessaloniki for refusing to submit lists of administrative employees to enter the suspension scheme. This follows Mr. Arvanitopoulos’ request from the Supreme Court two weeks ago to assist him in acquiring the lists. The administration of the University of Thessaloniki has responded that it cannot supply the lists due to technical difficulties attributed to the ongoing strike of administrative employees.
Finally, administrative employees of the National Technical University of Athens have announced that the Ministry of Education’s administrative employee registration platform is lacking essential security checks, such as secure passwords and encryption, leaving it open for abuse. The employees also criticized the Ministry for not failing to make any mention of the relevant personal data protection legislation.
