Greek workers: We refuse to become slaves in the 21st century!

On 14 October 2025, the day that parliament debated on the anti-labour bill providing for 13-hour workdays, a new 24-hour general strike took place in Greece, for the second time in 15 days.

The strike was called by 38 Labour Centres, which are local trade union associations, including those in the largest Greek cities (Athens, Thessaloniki, Piraeus, Patras, etc), as well as 18 sectoral trade union federations. 

 

These include the largest private-sector sectoral trade union confederation in Greece, that of construction workers, as well as the large federations of workers in the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, textile, chemical industry, energy, railways, etc. 

The Confederation of all public sector unions (ADEDY) also decided to strike, in contrast to the majority of the confederation of private sector unions (GSEE), which once again supported the anti-popular government and employers in practice. Thus, the great success of the strike was a response not only to the government, but also to the compromised leadership of the GSEE.

Workplaces, factories, construction sites, ports, banks, and transportation were paralyzed, with thousands of workers taking to the streets of Athens and other cities to protest against policies that constantly create dead ends in the people’s lives, for the sake of the profits of business groups, intensifying the exploitation and “flexibility” of the working class and eroding people’s incomes due to high prices.

Koutsoumbas: "Justice lies in the path of struggle"

Dimitris Koutsoumbas, General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), took part in the strike rally in Athens. Shortly afterwards, he and the rest MPs of the KKE, lambasted the anti-popular bill from the floor of the parliament.

The GS of the CC of the KKE, expressed the views of the majority of workers and the thousands of strikers outside the Parliament, describing the "fair work for all" bill, which seeks to turn people into zombies who will live to work continuously, as a "morbid fantasy". D. Koutsoumbas highlighted aspects of the barbarity that workers are already experiencing and, addressed the MPs of the parliamentary majority, asking: "What kind of people are you, defending exploitation?". He responded to all of the government's false arguments, such as that the workers want to work from dusk until dawn, one by one.

He condemned all those who treat people as disposable commodities leaving them with no free time to spend with their children, be active or participate in social and political life.

He noted that the only truth the government has told about the bill is that the violation of workers'–people's rights is normal in the EU, a fact that parties such as PASOK and SYRIZA have voted for and implemented. "You may want to take humanity back two centuries, but despite setbacks, the wheel of history always moves forward", emphasized D. Koutsoumbas. He also pointed out that capitalist profit is responsible not only for failing to meet the contemporary needs of workers and intensifying exploitation, but also for wars and genocides.

Furthermore, D. Koutsoumbas highlighted the fact that the government has consistently refused to condemn the genocide of the Palestinian people by the murderous state of Israel, and is now supporting the "Trump plan" that denies the Palestinian people their right to their own homeland, in the hope that the Greek bourgeoisie will also get a share of the spoils.

"Justice lies in the path of struggle. What is modern and humane is not the barbarity of the system of war and exploitation, but the new society, socialism", concluded the GS of the CC of the KKE.

inter.kke.gr