ATHENS, Greece — Thirty-five workers, family and supporters picketed the main buildings at MM Publications in the Athens suburb of Alimos Feb. 20. MM Publications is one of the major publishing houses in the country, producing schoolbooks used here and exported abroad.
“Since the end of October the company has fired 40 workers out of 350. Many of those are members of our union,” Ioannis Louskas, a member of the executive board of The Workers Union in Publications, Bookstores, Photocopy Centers and Stationery, told pickets. “In the meantime, the bosses have forced those still working to double up on the amount of work. We demand that the firings stop and that those dismissed be rehired.
“We have been demanding a meeting with the employers since the end of October and once again today they have refused to meet with us,” he said.
Natasha Terlexi, a member of the union and of the Employed and Dismissed Workers Committee at MM, also spoke. “The bosses aim to speed up the work even more. They aim to dismiss even more of our co-workers. They aim to further replace workers with Artificial Intelligence platforms,” she said. “Our strength as workers is in joining together, in building our union, and using our collective strength to push back the bosses’ attacks. Join now!”
Artemis Papadaki, another member of the union and of the workers committee, said, “They’re trying to divide us, those still employed against those that have been fired, immigrants against native Greeks, young and old.”
Terlexi and Papadaki were among the first fired, in October and November respectively. The Workers Union in Publications and Bookstores has been attempting to organize there, but has not yet won representation.
Panagiotis Katsaros, president of the Union of Workers at DHL at Athens airport, expressed his solidarity. “Whatever you need, financial or organizational, you can count on us.”
The bosses tried to keep those workers still employed from talking with the demonstrators, telling them they “were anarchist troublemakers.” Nonetheless, over a dozen workers coming out at the end of their shift gave thumbs up or hugs to protesters as the bosses watched. Three workers joined the picket.
Messages of support can be sent to mm.employeeforum@gmail.com.