Greece: Communist mayor summoned for apology because he defended workers' rights!

Mayor Stamelos (Archive Photo)

The mayor of Kaisariani, a municipality in east Athens, has been summoned by state authorities to apologize due to his defensive stance towards sanitation employees. 

More specifically, as 902 portal reports, mayor Ilias Stamelos and 20 members of the Kaisariani Municipal Council, have been called by the Decentralised Administration of Attica on the basis of "dereliction of duty". What was their crime? The fact that they didn't appeal a first instance decision taken by a court which vindicated five municipal workers concerning their right to employment. 

As mayor Stamelos said: "We are accused of the disciplinary offense of "dereliction of duty" because on 14/11/2024 we decided to stand by the side of 5 sanitation workers who were demanding to remain in their positions after years of dedication and service, because we said the obvious, that workers are necessary for the municipality to function, because we faithfully implemented what we were elected for: to defend the interests of our people."

Numerous labour unions, workers' associations and members of the popular movement have expressed their firm solidarity towards the mayor of Kaisariani. 

It is noted that Ilias Stamelos, backed by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), was mayor of Kaisariani from 2014 to 2019 and was re-elected in the 2023 local elections. He is one of the currently five communist mayors across Greece, alongside Kostas Peletidis of Patras, Michalis Selekos of Chaidari (Athens) and Vangelis Simos of Petroupolis (Athens) and Stelios Tsikritsis of Tyrnavos. 

 IN DEFENSE OF COMMUNISM ©