Galery

2

1

Cleavage occurred in the Union of private-sector employees (GSEE) after the discovery of the fact that secret meetings were held between representatives of the unions and the working organizations in the presence of the Minister of Employment and Social Security Louka Katseli. At the epicenter of events is the discussion about the introduction of individual bilateral business contracts that will be of greater importance than the previously established collective agreements.

From the rostrum of the General Council the leader of the largest trade union in Greece Yiannis Panagopoulos supported his administration and stressed that in times of tight economic policy he has won for the Greek employees in the private sector 1.7 percent annual salary increases, which was based on weighted average inflation for the eurozone countries. It was a great victory because, according to the Memorandum of financial support salary increases for the next three years should have been frozen. Half of the hall welcomed the statement and the other half remained indifferent to the achievements of the union leader. "In Greece there are about 983,000 private enterprises, 90% of which have up to 50 employees. In 73% of these companies operate less than 20 people. This means that these people are not protected by union forces in the country".

"We fight for workers' rights and will settle for nothing less," Yiannis Panagopoulos cited and continued: "We are not subject to no party and no government." Then was then booed.

"But what are you talking about," was heard from the crowd. "I failed, try to understand it," continued the shouts from the audience. Representatives of the Communist Party in the unions in Greece PAME condemned Panagopoulos and his followers as traitors and subordinates to the work organizations. The current leader of the Union of employees in private sector is union member of the Union of PASOK. Since the spring of 2010 a wave of discontent against him began to raise. The main accusation is that he doesn’t do his job and does not protect workers' rights in Greece, because the party which he comes from is currently governing.

The disappointment with the development of the country's economic situation and change in the established standards in labor relations, shook the unions to such an extent that on the day of the General Council two resignations were announced. The Secretary General of the Union Vangelis Bouzoulas (representative of the union of New Democracy) and Vice-President George Gavrilis (from SYRIZA) said they are leaving the General Council of the Union, but the organization itself. Yiannis Panagopoulos accused them of irresponsibility and lack of union consciousness. According to him the resignations were a strategic move that serves narrow partisan interests of the two representatives who resigned, who also hurt with their actions the union movement.

The two representatives of the General Council in turn announced their disappointment with the manner of governance of the Union. Right unionist Vangelis Bouzoulas rushed to defend himself in a formal statement to the media saying that he has never heard about any secret meetings with Minister Katseli and representatives of trade and industrial organizations and has never participated in such meetings. He even left the impression of one affected by recent developments in labor-legal relations in the country, which is also the official reason for leaving the board of the union.

In journalistic circles in Greece, however, it is said that until the two trade unionists leave the organization entirely, we can not consider that they are strongly opposed to the policy of the Union of employees in the private sector. Their action should rather have a more dramatic than real effect, and the aim (according to unconfirmed reports) is to change the management of labor union at the next nationwide meeting.

 "When you sign collective agreements that reduce the incomes of the workers, the existence of unions becomes meaningless," said George Gavrilis. According to him there is no strategy to protect workers' rights. He urged to convene an extraordinary general meeting of the unions in Greece in March 2011 at which to unite all forces in one organism in order to achieve better results in the fight for employees' rights.

The only thing which all union members in Greece agreed upon at this meeting was conducting a nationwide 24-hour strike on December 15, 2010. For this strike it is expected that all discontent will go out on the streets of the country – it will not be the first time this year. The slogans will be familiar to us from previous strikes in Greece – Say No! to the International Monetary Fund, the policy of the Socialist government against the cancellation of collective agreements. Communist trade unionists from PAME, of course, once again came up with an individual proposal. They have called for a preliminary strike either on the eighth or ninth of December next week to warm up the fighters for justice for workers' for the protest on 15 December.

The drama about individual bilateral business contracts developed in the last week after the government decided to introduce a bill for the liberalization of the labor market in the country. According to the draft large enterprises with over 50 people in staff will be able to sign agreements that which will not be consistent with the collective labor agreements in each sector - the minimum level of wages, working hours etc. Reductions in salaries can not exceed 12% and new contracts will be valid for no more than two years. Individual contracts can only be applied if the company has had financial problems and to avoid layoffs, the salaries of all employees will be cut.