A labor ministry draft amendment revising the charter of the EDOEAP auxiliary pension and health fund, which includes most of the greater Athens and Thessaloniki areas’ media professionals and media outlets’ administrative staff, was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday evening.
The proposed revisions to the fund’s charter come in the wake of a vote this week by its members/beneficiaries over what’s essentially a last-ditch rescue plan to keep it afloat.
At least half of EDOEP’s primary beneficiaries had to vote to render the proposed charter revisions valid, whereas three-fourths of the total vote had to be in the affirmative.
Out of 10,110 eligible members/beneficiaries, 6,127 voted, exceeding the necessary 50-percent threshold.
Of those, the “yes” votes were 5,619; the “no” votes 350, with blank votes 115 and invalid votes 43.
EDOEAP is unique in Greece in that its beneficiaries / members vote for the board members that manage the fund. Members’ contributions form part of the reserves needed to allocate supplementary pensions to retirees, whereas the fund has its own clinic and employs physicians, nursing staff and administrative employees.
The biggest resource for the fund was, up until September 2016, a 24-percent surcharge (aggeliosimo) imposed on daily newspaper (Athens-Thessaloniki) and broadcast advertising. With the elimination of the surcharge, the fund lost its biggest source of revenue.
