Thursday, October 11, 2018

Greece: PAME denounces pro-government trade unionism, calls for nationwide strike on November 8th

In a statement the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) denounces the pro-governmental, anti-workers stance of the majority of the Executive Committee of the General Confereration of Greek Workers (GSEE) which, during a meeting on October 8th, rejected the proposal for a General Strike on November 8th. 

According to PAME, the forces of the employer and government-led trade unionism argued that the workers... "must wait for the developments", while they unleashed slanders against PAME. More specifically, among other things, the statement of PAME writes:

"In a period when the working class is under the orchestrated new attack by the government, with the activation of the Vroutsis-Achtsioglou law which sets the minimum wage according to the demands of the business groups and the "strengths" of their economy and abolishes the collective negotiations [...] the majority of the GSEE calls the working people to "wait" while the employers do not sign collective contracts in a series of industries, while the flexible forms of labor are on a record pace". 

The Executive Secretariat of PAME calls every trade union, every worker in all sectors in Greece, to participate in the General Strike on the 8th November and to organize the discussion in all workplaces on how the working class should fight against the policies imposed by the government and the employers. The trade union leaderships must organize the struggle in every sector, every working place, every region, they must take initiatives for the preparation of the strike.

The time has come for the workers to rise up. It’s time for us to have a coordinated struggle. Workers cannot bear any more tolerance or waiting. We have to respond to the lies and illusions we are told by the government of SYRIZA-ANEL and New Democracy (ND), the leading party of the opposition. No one else can solve our problems in our place. Problems created by the anti-people policies of the governments, since the beginning of the crisis, unless we organize massive, decisive struggles under the slogan: OUR NEEDS IN THE FRONTLINE-NOT THE PROFITS OF THE CAPITALISTS.

We demand:

Restoration and obligatoriness of the Collective Contracts. Restoration of Minimum wage. Collective Agreements must apply to all workers regardless their condition of employment.

Raises in the salaries, pensions and social benefits.

Prohibition of auctions for the workers’ homes. Cancellation of the law that allows the auctioning of homes, due to debts owed to banks and the State.

Cancellation of all anti-social security laws

Infrastructure and means of protection for the people. Flood-control, antiseismic and fire-protection measures and projects, right now.

No participation in imperialist interventions and wars, outside the Greek borders. No participation in the slaughterhouses of NATO and the E.U. All foreign military bases and facilities must close now. Throw NATO out of the Aegean and the Balkans.