A strike has been called for 17 January across the Athens region by all the rank-and-file “ergatika kentra” (workers' centres) of the region.
It could be the first step towards the political unification and coordination of the different struggles in Greece.
The 400 workers on continuous strike at the Elliniki Chalivourgia [Greek Steel] steel company have sent a message to 17 January strikers: “On 17 January you are not striking only in solidarity with the 400 workers of Elliniki Chalivourgia. Every one of us is striking for our class against our employer and against the class of employers. The victory of the steel workers will be a victory for all workers!”
The Greek Steel workers have been on strike since 31 October, when they rejected the employers' plan to cut their hours to five a day and their wages by 40%. Employers have sacked 63 workers in an attempt to spread fear and insecurity to the rest of the metal workers and bully them into accepting the deal.
The 400 strikers have a clear message: “We are not returning to a dangerous job that places our lives at risk for the pittance of 500 euros per month and without our sacked work colleagues being reinstated”.
Greek Steel bosses claim economic difficulties as an excuse. But in the last two years their production has increased from 196,000 tonnes to 266,000.
Greek Steel is the first private company to make use of all the recent anti-working-class legislation imposed by the government and the EU/ ECB/ IMF Troika. It wants to impose flexible working hours according to the bosses' needs, unpaid overtime, an hourly labour rate instead of a stable monthly wage, and abolition of welfare and insurance benefits.
Dozens of rank-and-file union organisations have passed motions of solidarity with the steel workers and an attempt is being made to coordinate the struggles of all the workplaces which have ongoing strikes.
Hundreds of people, including students and unemployed people, visit the steel workers' picket lines to express their solidarity and to offer material and practical support (money, food). Theatre performances and concerts are being staged in support of the steel workers' struggle.
There are also continuous strikes by journalists and media workers at the Greek TV station Alter; at the liberal newspaper Eleytherotypia, where over 1,500 workers have been sacked or have not been paid for months; at Gerolymatos Cosmetics; and others.
On 16 January there was a general strike of all media workers, in an industry where over 4,000 workers have lost their jobs or have not been paid for months.
New assault in private sector
The Greek government, in alliance with the EU/ ECB/ IMF Troika and the employers' federation SEV, is now preparing the ground for drastic cuts in private sector wages.
The excuse here is not the country’s fiscal problems or the reduction of the deficit, used to justify the previously-imposed cuts in public sector wages. The government's rationale for cuts is now to improve the competitive position of the Greek private sector in eurozone and world markets.
In his robotic, clinical voice, prime minister Lucas Papademos has asked workers to sacrifice their wages so that their unemployed colleagues will get a chance to re-enter employment.
But a recent study by “HR Pulse” of ICAP People Solutions has revealed that 70% of companies are planning to make redundancies within the next six months, and 30% of companies are planning wage cuts and change of working conditions within the next six months. The construction industry, which used to be one of the pillars of the Greek economy, has shrunk by 22% within the last year.
Many companies face cash-flow problems because the Greek banks refuse to provide them with cash.
Greek workers pushed into poverty
According to 2011 statistics, over three million Greeks, 28% of the population, live under the poverty line. The poverty line is defined as €7,000 annual income for an individual worker and €15,000 annual income for a family of four.
Real poverty figures are even higher, because the official statistics are based upon people’s wages at the end of 2009.
They also exclude the social categories “always” living below the poverty line: the homeless, the Roma, refugees and economic migrants.
63% of families are now having to cut back on basic daily needs, including food, in order to balance the family budget. 908,000 people are unemployed — 18% of the population, and it is over 20% in the north of Greece and 44% among young people (under 25).
Unemployment has been increased 50% in the course of a one year. In other words, the 300,000 jobs created by ten years of growth were destroyed by one year of austerity measures.
The threat of the unemployment has lead a lot of workers to sign individual agreements with employers, rather than collective-bargaining agreements, and that has further reduced the wages of many from 760 euros per month to 560 euros.
The introduction and expansion of casualised employment has resulted to about 320,000 workers receiving a monthly income of 456 euros per month, less than the 460 euros per month of unemployment benefits.
Companies have declared themselves “bankrupt” so that they can avoid paying wages and redundancy pay to their workers while the company directors secure their wealth.
Workers' conditions and legislative gains that reflected the victorious workers' struggles of past decades have been redefined to fit the needs of capital and the bankers.
Young people are emigrating massively for the first time since the Second World War. In Athens now over 25,000 people are recorded as homeless. Babies are being handed over to care homes and charities by families which cannot afford to look after them.
150,000 public sector workers are expected to lose their jobs by 2015. Wages and pensions have plummeted by 40% in the public sector and by 10% in the private sector. No collective-bargaining improvements are allowed at least until 2015.
400,000 shops have closed. One thousand schools have closed down. Hospitals are understaffed.
