Dozens of unfavorable and uncontrolled second-level trade union organizations (Federations and Labor Centers) across the country are being driven to economic suffocation by Giannis Panagopoulos, as their funding has been transferred to GSEE, a role that until 2024 was held by the Public Employment Service (DYPA).
The transfer of trade union funding to GSEE
A newly established non-profit company was found managing more than 110 million euros of social resources annually. The company named “Special Account for Vocational Training (ΕΛΕΚ)”, established in December 2024, received a “dowry” of 90.57 million euros from DYPA in March 2025, while subsequent capital transfers brought the total amount to over 117 million euros today. The head of the organization is GSEE president Giannis Panagopoulos.
This specific company, which also involves other employer organizations, will not only manage the large pie of training programs for the coming years, distributing hundreds of millions of euros to Vocational Training Centers, but also part of the funds that finance the basic operation of Labor Centers and Federations throughout the country.
The problems of non-funding
The non-funding problems began in mid-2025, when the Labor Center of Evia, controlled by PAME (KKE), sent a letter of protest. The Labor Center of Patras, also controlled by the KKE, faces a similar non-funding problem, as does the Federation of Trade and Services Employee Associations, controlled by “green” unionists opposed to Panagopoulos, and the Union of Artists in Local Authorities, who are band employees under Private Law Indefinite Duration contracts (IDAX), along with other trade union bodies.
To be clear, these are not state or European funds, but contributions deducted from workers – members and non-members – of trade union organizations for union actions and paid into the Account for Employment and Vocational Training (LAEK). LAEK money is not a gift. These are mandatory contributions deducted through private sector workers’ payrolls and employer contributions. For workers it is 1% of payroll (unless otherwise specified) for union action, and for employers it is 0.75%, which goes to training.
Thus, thousands of workers – members of trade union organizations that do not belong to GSEE – regularly pay the contributions that feed the account. The question is straightforward: How can workers-members of organizations that do not belong to GSEE pay the social resource normally and, through the new structure, be excluded from access to funding? If it is confirmed that the flow of resources varies according to organizational affiliation, then this is not a technical issue. It is a matter of equal treatment and trade union freedom.
The Labor Center of Evia filed a complaint regarding serious payment delays from the Special Account (ΕΛΕΚ), which – as stated – leave workers and beneficiaries without the stipulated financial assistance for long periods. According to the announcement by the Labor Center of Evia, multi-month delays in benefit payments are observed. Beneficiaries face economic suffocation, especially during a period of increased cost of living, and immediate payment of debts and ensuring a stable payment schedule is requested.
How can workers pay the social resource normally and, through the new structure, be excluded from funding?
How organizations were funded before 2025
The Labor Center calls on the relevant ministry and ΕΛΕΚ management to provide immediate solutions, noting that delays affect workers already facing job insecurity. Simultaneously, on 26/11/2025, the Labor Center of Evia sent a letter to ΕΛΕΚ due to serious delays in funding payments, noting that by 10/11/2025 no amount had been paid by ΕΛΕΚ for employee salaries from 1/5/2025 onwards, nor for operating expenses, including older claims (e.g., heating oil).
Finally, in November 2025, following communications and pressure, part of the May 2025 payroll was paid, followed by part of the June payroll and the heating oil resource for April 2025. Until the regime change, second-level trade union organizations were funded through DYPA, based on specific ministerial decisions and administrative acts.
After transferring management to ΕΛΕΚ:
1. Delays and payment suspensions for Labor Centers and Federations are reported.
2. Approvals for trade union organization employee salaries are frozen.
3. Housing approvals are pending and – according to documents available to the newspaper – the issue of “GSEE consent” is raised even in cases where legislation does not require it.
The most critical issue, however, is different. There are trade union organizations that are not GSEE members and were normally funded by DYPA until 2025, but today face funding interruption or delays. The GSEE president simultaneously heads the body that decides on resource flow to organizations, namely ΕΛΕΚ. This means the top of the trade union pyramid manages the economic survival terms of lower levels.
The role conflict is obvious, even without explicit political intervention. In a system where personnel salaries, housing, and basic operations depend on approval from a body managed by GSEE, economic dependence becomes a lever of influence.
Published in Parapolitika
