Τα Υπουργεία Τουρισμού και Αγροτικής Ανάπτυξης και Τροφίμων ανήρτησαν σε δημόσια διαβούλευση μέχρι 2 Σεπτεμβρίου 2022, σχέδιο Κοινής Υπουργικής Απόφασης για τη θεσμοθέτηση και τις τεχνικές-λειτουργικές προδιαγραφές των επισκέψιμων ελαιοτριβείων. The Ministries of Tourism and Agricultural Development and Food are calling for comments on a new ministerial bill that sets the technical and operational requirements of visitable olive presses, until 2 September 2022.
Μετά από πολύωρη συνάντηση της Γ.Γ. Εργασίας και του Προεδρείου της ΠΟΕΕΤ συμφωνήθηκε η αναστολή εφαρμογής της εγκυκλίου του Υπουργείου Εργασίας που προέβλεπε τη δυνατότητα εξαήμερης εργασίας 40 ωρών ανά εβδομάδα και την έναρξη γύρου διαπραγματεύσεων με την εργοδοσία σχετικά με το καθεστώς των ημερών εργασίας. Η ισχύουσα συλλογική σύμβαση εργασίας υπεγράφη τον Ιούνιο του 2021.
After a long meeting, the general secretary of Labour and the Board of the POEET Tourism & Food Worker Union, agreed to suspend the implementation of a circular of the Ministry of Labour that provided for the possibility of six-day work of 40 hours per week. A new round of negotiations with employers will take place regarding the status of working days. The current collective labour agreement in the Tourism and Restaurant sectors was signed in June 2021.
Lampsa SA, owners of the historic Athenian hotels Grande Bretagne and King George among others, are offering a Euros 1,000 bonus to all their employees in Athens, in recognition of their hard work during a season "of 100% occupancy". Hopefully other hotel companies will follow suit.
A 16 km hiking route inside the "University Forest" of Pertouli, in northwestern Thessaly, was inaugurated today by government officials. The route consists of three main tour paths crossing the forest as well as old churches, fountains, gorges, WW2 monuments. A mobile app and website will also be created. The 3300 ha forest is managed by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
The Interministerial Strategic Investments Commission approved the EUR 840m "Saronida Olympos Golf Project", as a 'strategic project' to be developed in a natural unbuilt coastal, hilly area of 650 hectares, one of few remaining in Attica, between Saronida and Lagonissi. It involves the construction of a hotel complex, an 18-hole golf course, a heliport, a tourist village, shopping mall and marina in two stages within the next 8 years. The developers, Beta Real Estate Development SA promise to achieve a near zero carbon footprint by reforesting 300 hectares and by installing renewable energy infrastructure. Before the final go ahead an environmental impact assessment must be approved, and a presidential decree and a special spatial development plan must be issued. The land belonged to a building cooperative of health professionals, that apparently had been unable to gain the necessary permissions from consecutive governments. Premium public land in many coastal regions in Attica and the rest of Greece was acquired using dubious methods to be developed by building cooperatives ("oikodomikoi synetairismoi") formed by judges, policemen, doctors, lawyers, public servants and other professionals, in the era following the end of the civil war and until the end of the military dictatorship (1950-1974).
Hotel employees demand the signing of a collective agreement, wage increases and improvements in working conditions. The Restaurant, Tourism and Hotel Worker & Employees Syndicate argues that wage levels are at 2007 levels, staff has been halved since 2012 and visitation has quadrupled. A gathering will be held at Titania Hotel in central Athens at 9:30 am, on Friday 24 June.
The Evros Delta and Dadia National Park Management Unit announced the death of a Eurasian black vulture (Aegypius monachus), a near-threatened species, after a collision with a wind turbine within a Natura 2000 protected area in the Filiouri Valley. The dead vulture, had been marked in 2018 as a chick and also carried a transmitter. According to Sylvia Zakkak, a biologist working at the Unit, the incident proves the inadequacy of automated collision prevention systems of wind farms. In addition, such systems may displace bird populations. What is certain is that the installation of wind turbines close to important bird areas is a bad idea.
Federation of Lefkadian Associations Press ConferenceThe Federation held a press conference in Athens to express its opposition to, and coordinate action against, Lefkada Municipality plans to privatize areas adjacent to the Santa Maura Castle and the old cooperative TAOL winery. The Municipality's ultimate goal is to facilitate the construction of a five-star hotel. The Federation points out that the plans are incompatible with the character and the existing archaeological, environmental and spatial planning designations of the area.
Photo by Pandemia on FlickrEnvironment Minister Hatzidakis had visited Chrysi Island in June 2020 and talked of a "shameful sight" promising action. This summer limits have been set on the number of tourists taking day trips to the uninhabited 5 sq. km sandy Chrysi (Golden) island 15km south of Ierapetra, Crete. In addition daily visitors are not allowed to venture in the interior of the island so as to allow the Cretan juniper (Juniperus macrocarpa) forest, protected under the EU Natura 2000 scheme, to recover. The island is a declared archeological site and also has shell fossils. Twenty arbitrary constructions were demolished in mid-May 2022, however, according to the Chrysi Action Plan & Monitoring Committee, illegal wells, dirt roads, use of 4WD vehicles, water pipelines, trading (beach bars) and camping activities are still "raging" on the island. The municipality of Ierapetra has protested that the protection measures are "out of reality".
For one more summer (June 1 to August 31, 2022) it will be illegal for everyone including hoteliers to refill resort swimming pools due to water scarcity on the island. The ban was first introduced in 2018 and also prohibits refill by water trucks arriving from other places. A EUR 10k fine applies. Why does an island with magnificent beaches need so many swimming pools anyway?
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