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Victoria Mindova

"Dogs bark, but the caravan goes on" is the proverb that describes the best the state of Greek trade unions in the midst of the most serious political crisis that Greece has seen in the last 30 years. The union of civil servants ADEDY and representatives of the radical left SYRIZA gathered on Syntagma Square to protest outside the parliament. The joint procession did not involve more than 500 people. Public sector trade unionists were chanting slogans against the government's general policy. SYRIZA members were protesting against the parliament vote of confidence in the government of PASOK, which is counting the days until its collapse.

"People no longer will be a slave to big bosses," were shouting members of the state union. They were carrying posters with protest slogans, "The Troika and the government have collapsed," they were shouting the familiar Greek rhyme, "Get the Memorandum and get out of here."

Despite the revolutionary moods of the protesters, unionists do not want the country to exit the monetary union, but refuse to accept the reforms in the labour relations and planned privatizations. Asked by GRReporter "What is the position of trade unions on Greece staying in the eurozone, "yes" or "no"?" the general secretary of ADEDY Elias Vretakos said that the organization he represented was not interested in such dilemmas.

"The problems of working people remain – the reduction of wages, transfers of positions, layoffs and increased unemployment remain," Vretakos explained further. He stressed that employees have fought and will continue to fight to eliminate this policy, regardless of political developments. "We are protesting to change the policy, both in Greece and throughout the European Union."

In connection with the unusually high activity of local trade unions we asked our readers in the last poll, "Where are the trade unions taking Greece?"

Surprisingly, most votes received the response obviously not so flattering for the defenders of labour rights, "Trade union leaders organize strikes to keep their high salaries and benefits." 36% of the Bulgarian readers gave their vote for it. The same is the percentage of respondents in our English version. Nearly half of our Greek readers or 43% believe that local trade unions do not care about improving working conditions or protecting the interests of ordinary workers, as only their interest matters.

The percentage of readers in the three languages who believe that "Trade unionists should be banned in Greece, at least temporarily" is not small either. This view is shared by one-third of the respondents in the Greek and English version of GRReporter. Our Bulgarian readers are more tolerant to such extreme measures, but 22% of them also believe that strikes should be banned until the Greeks decide which way the country will take.

here was almost no support to the suggestion that "Trade unions do the work of political opposition and are not particularly concerned about the labour rights." No one in the Greek version has voted for this option and it received the modest 10% and 7% in the Bulgarian and English version respectively. Obviously, conspiracy theories and political provocations are not popular.

Much higher is the percentage of readers who think that no implied meaning lies behind the trade union activities and the unions are "strong and protect workers’ interests." This is the opinion of 16% of the voters in the Bulgarian site and 17% in the English version. Greek readers are much skeptical as only 4% of them agreed that trade unionists are fighting only for the good of the workers.

The answer "Workers' rights should be protected, but frequent strikes hamper the economy" is in itself the most often heard statement from the leaders of professional organizations, who are obviously between the hammer and the anvil in the talks between the government and trade unions. The middle ground chose 17% of the Bulgarian readers, 10% of the voters in the English GRReporter and 22% of our Greek readers.

Now, GRReporter is asking you to vote in the new poll What does Greece need?