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Journalists in Athens turn their backs on their union representatives

02 February 2012 / 18:02:09  GRReporter
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However, the leadership of the Union is not obliged to follow the decision of the vote because none of the three proposals was supported by 50 per cent plus 1 vote. Now, it must decide how to analyze the results and what action to take. "My personal opinion is that they should require a meeting with publishers and agreeing on a single collective agreement. Because if they do not, the people working in various media, in their desire to keep their jobs and the good  relations with their colleagues as far as possible, are willing to accept a decrease in their income and to sign individual labour agreements or agreements within the particular media company."

According to Dimitris Triandafilidis, the problem is not the strike itself, but its type. "To go on strike, you must be supported by other social groups. For example, the employees of the state television ERT went on strike for a month and a half but no one missed it. This is because it had been demoted in the eyes of the Greeks for several reasons. The first is that it has always depended on the political parties that ruled the country. The second reason is that the journalists there are not serious about their job; they do not create attractive programmes for the viewers. The same applies to newspapers in Greece. They are outdated and must change to become media with positions. For this to happen, erudite journalists to analyze the issues must work there. Nowadays, the information does not belong to either newspapers or television. Also it is slow compared to the Internet. News is spread instantly there. I will recall how Twitter submitted real-time details about the U.S. military campaign against Osama bin Laden. Therefore, the reader or viewer wants a position, an opinion which is absent from Greek newspapers today."

Dimitris believes that if the board ignores the will of the voters against the "blind" strikers, "then the Union will break up. Small organizations will form in any media that negotiates professional issues with the owners. And then, they will create a new union."

Tags: MediaUnion of JournalistsManagement boardVoteGeneral strikeCollective labour agreementSalaries
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