A major nationwide strike is being prepared for Saturday by the labor unions in Greece. The date has been deliberately chosen, as the 28th of February marks the third anniversary of the head-on collision of two trains in the country, which led to the death of 57 people. Last year, the strike and the rallies that were held across the country on the same date were the biggest of the last five decades.
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Snapshot from last year’s strike rally in the capital, Athens.
The upcoming strike is being prepared while the people’s anger over the tragic incident remains high, since no legal sanctions have been imposed on the entrepreneurial and political executives of the railways, the investigation of the reasons which led to the explosion and the carbonization of the injured yet alive passengers after the trains’ collision is being hindered, nor has the safety and operation system of the Greek railways since improved, with various incidents of less importance having taken place.
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Snapshot from last year’s strike rally in Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece.
The circumstances under which the fatal incident happened triggered within Greek society a strong, massive feeling of discontent against the complete absence of human life protection in the chase of business profit – a feeling which has thenceforth been intensified even more due to repeated incidents involving the deaths of unwitting workers during their working shifts, which have happened since. The most characteristic incident is the recent explosion in the factory of the well-known cookie company Violanta, which caused the instant death of five workers, because, as the investigatory material shows, the company was complying with no fuel safety measures for cost reasons.
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Snapshot from last year’s strike rally in Patra, the third largest city in Greece.
Under the aforementioned conditions, there are hundreds of companies, sectoral and district unions that have taken strike decisions for Saturday with the central slogan “Their profits or our lives”. The multitude and the scope of these unions give the strike a nationwide character in the private sector, despite the supreme confederation of private workers’ unions (GSEE) abstaining from the strike initiative. On the contrary, the panhellenic confederation of public sector employees (ADEDY) has endorsed it. Moreover, as the most stunning fatal incidents have happened in the transport and food sectors, especially strong participation is expected from the workers of such companies.
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Snapshot from last year’s strike rally in the capital, Athens.
Beyond the various sectoral demands and the common demand for human life protection measures in the workplaces, a fundamental common demand is the return of free collective bargaining between workers and employers’ unions for collective work contracts, with salary increases that will cover the increasing cost of living.
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Snapshot from last year’s strike rally in the capital, Athens.