One day earlier, hundreds of teachers had rallied in Athens to build solidarity with their own wages fight. As they marched, they chanted, “We want increases in salaries and pensions and don’t want another penny given to the Olympics”—a reference to the government’s claims that its outlay on hosting the 2004 Olympics has left no money in the pot for wage increases.

ADEDY is demanding a starting wage of 1,050 euros (1 euro=U.S.$1.14) . It also calls for special bonus payments to be incorporated into basic salaries. In response, the government is proposing a wage of 599 euros, and insists on continuing the present bonus system.

The union’s other main demand is for the establishment of a “hazardous” job category in the public sector for jobs that involve a danger of illness or injury for the worker. Such a category would be patterned one that already applies in privately owned industries, bringing with it certain benefits, including early retirement.

Among those who have participated in the wave of labor actions have been ferry crew members, sanitation workers, public hospital doctors and nurses, teachers, and agricultural technicians. The unions are pressing for pay raises, pension benefits, and permanent jobs.

The strike by the sanitation workers who collect garbage had a major impact in Athens, Thessaloniki, and other cities. On October 23, as their strike entered its ninth day, mountains of trash dotted the streets. The workers are battling for a monthly bonus of 150 euros. They also make an effective argument for their jobs to be placed in the “hazardous” category.

The social-democratic government of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement refused to budge, holding its bonus offer at 100 euros and stating that it would not discuss the second demand.

Prime Minister Costantinos Simitis dubbed the strike a “disgrace,” while the interior ministry obtained an October 22 court injunction declaring the stoppage “illegal and abusive.” Violation of the injunction would entail a jail sentence of one month. In addition, a 2,000-euro fine would be levied on each of the union’s elected leaders for every day the strike continued after it was declared illegal.

Despite this ruling, the majority of the Executive Committee of the sanitation workers union voted to continue the strike. Hundreds of sanitation workers drove their cleaning vehicles through the center of Athens on October 23 to protest the court decision. The following day, the mayor of Thessaloniki, V. Papageorgiou, led a strikebreaking force of 25 vehicles to try to break through the picket line of 50 sanitation workers at the garbage dump in the city’s district of Tagarades. The workers stood firm and turned back the strikebreakers. A few hours later, four squads of anti-riot cops attacked the strikers with teargas and chemical spray. After a battle, the cops dispersed the picket and occupied the entrance to the dump. By October 25 most of the unionists had returned to work.

The capitalist government has responded with similar hostility to other actions. The strikes of the agricultural technicians, the hospital doctors, and nurses were also declared illegal and abusive.

Beginning in mid-September and lasting over a month, the rolling 24- and 48-hour strikes by the agricultural technicians involved veterinarians, geologists, agronomists, foresters, and ichthyologists. Finance Minister N. Christodoulakis rebuffed their demand for a 250-euro monthly bonus, saying, “the strikers will not receive even one euro.”

As the strikes gained momentum, Minister of Agriculture G. Dris told representatives of the agricultural technicians that they would receive a monthly bonus of 30 euros this year and 20 the next. At the same time the government threatened to compel the technicians to work. Confronted by these threats, ADEDY called off a follow-up strike scheduled for October 13. Since then the unionists have decided to resume their strike actions on November 3.

The health-care sector has also been hit by stoppages. In Athens and other cities, public hospital doctors and nurses have participated in successive 24- and 48-hour strikes throughout the past month. They call on the government to spend more money to improve the inhuman conditions in the public health-care system.

The union demands the increased hiring of doctors and nurses as permanent employees, pay raises for health-care workers, and the institution of a 48-hour workweek. Doctors explain that at present they are working an average of 70-80 hours per week. Both doctors and nurses are also demanding that their jobs be declared “hazardous.”

To press their demands, about 500 nurses from around the country mobilized on October 22 to block the Athens-Thessaloniki highway at the Tempi Pass.  
 
 
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