A deadlock appears to have been created in Public Maritime Education, as the teachers of the AEN express their rage and indignation over the cuts in overtime, the reduction of their income, and the retroactive return of money for hours they have already worked. This intense reaction is also reflected in the letter from PEPEN sent to the Ministries of Finance and Shipping, which speaks of “complete financial annihilation of maritime instructors” and a risk of “paralysis” in the schools’ operation.
At the center of the reactions is the recent Joint Ministerial Decision (KYA) that drastically limits overtime pay, as well as the controversial deductions to the MTPY for employees who are already insured with NAT.
Following is the full text of the letter:
To:
1. The Ministry of National Economy and Finance (Office of Deputy Minister Mr. Athanasios Petralias)
2. The Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy (Office of Minister Mr. Vasileios Kikilias)
Copied to:
/DEKN
NAT
PEEDNE
PANHELLENIC NAVAL FEDERATION
Honorable Mr. Deputy Minister of National Economy and Finance,
Honorable Mr. Minister of Shipping and Island Policy,
We inform you that PEPEN receives daily messages of anguish and indignation from colleagues serving as Teachers in the Schools of Public Maritime Education. We ourselves also observe the disruption that has been caused in these Schools. However, it was expected that this would happen after the issuance and publication in the Government Gazette (Government Gazette B’/2025) of your Joint Ministerial Decision number. And this is because, with its article 1 paragraph 6, a reduction in the number of hours of overtime teaching employment is provided for, and it is stipulated that it cannot exceed one half of the mandatory working hours. In this way, however, a reduction in the income of the Teacher Maritime Instructors, Captains, and Engineers, who serve in the Schools with Private Law Indefinite Time employment contracts, was caused. So, not only is their salary particularly low in relation to the work they perform, but they are also deprived of the possibility to supplement their limited income. And not only that. Colleague Teachers are called upon to return retroactively, as unduly paid, overtime compensation for hours they have worked! That is, their complete financial annihilation.
The situation that has developed leads to a paralysis of the smooth operation of the Schools, as it causes great damage to its main pillars, that is, to the IDAX Teachers of Naval Subjects, and deters them from continuing to choose to work in them.
In this way, however, a critical blow is dealt to Public Maritime Education, as the Schools risk being deprived of experienced and honorable Maritime Instructors, who pass on their knowledge and experience to the students of the Schools. We do not tolerate this situation.
We call upon you to revoke, here and now, the aforementioned KYA so that the necessary way out can be given to the deadlock it has caused.
The aforementioned problem comes to be added to another one about which our Union has protested. We refer to the deductions being made from the monthly earnings of the IDAX Educational Teachers of Naval Subjects to the Mutual Fund for Civil Servants (MTPY). These deductions are unfair for these Teachers, for the simplest reason that, due to the nature of their work, they are not going to receive a lump sum from the M.T.P.Y.
However, these deductions are also illegal. And this is because the work of the Maritime Instructors in the Schools is stipulated by Law to be Maritime Work. This, in turn, is insured as such at NAT with the regular submission of the DAPN. That is, the Professors of Maritime courses pay contributions to NAT, which also include contributions for the lump sum they will receive from NAT after their retirement. It is therefore imperative that this deduction for MTPY be abolished, since we are talking about mariners who pay contributions to NAT and not about shore-based employees.
Because the situation that has been created in the field of Public Maritime Education has reached a maximum level and is something that leads with mathematical precision to devaluation and an inability to fulfill the critical role it plays, we ask you to immediately accept these requests of ours.
There is no time to waste.
For PEPEN
The President
Panagiotis Gigis
