The labour struggles in Greece during the first half of 2010
Draft document for a rough summary of the greek situation
Economic and political crisis
After PASOK came in power, in October 2009, the wretched situation of the Greek capitalism was revealed. The public deficit for 2009 was not 5,5%, but, in fact, it was close to 14% of the GDP. The Greek state would be obliged to borrow almost a whole GDP, between 2010 and 2013, (in order to refinance its old debts and conduct new ones), while the total debt of the country was near 1 trillion euros (350-400 billion or more the announced along with the unannounced public dept, plus about 250 billion the debt of households and enterprises, plus another 250 billion the debt of social security funds). This gigantic debt is not but the consequence of the long economic crisis and decay of the Greek capitalism: weakening or even disintegration of its industrial productive basis, small concentration and centralization of capital, return of industry to more traditional sectors, complete dislocation of agriculture, etc.
The PASOK government won the October 2009 elections promising that it would move on to pay increases and improve living standards. Instead, only a few days later, it started imposing austerity measures and, within four months, it put the country under the occupation of the IMF, the European Central Bank and the EU. Actually, in very few months, everything changed radically and completely in the Greek society. The political system -from the two big parties (PASOK, ND) up to the extreme right LAOS and the two reformist parties, as well as the parliament as a whole, the members of parliament, the governments, the state, etc- lost any credibility. Even worse, the political system was considered by the labour masses and the people responsible for the economic crisis and, consequently, for the total attack against their rights and gains, as well as, for the fact that we found ourselves under an occupation government. In that sense, the economic crisis is not only irreversible and unmanageable, but it is also combined with –and thus worsened by- the political crisis, which is even deeper and more sweeping than the economic one.
The first austerity measures taken by the PASOK government were relatively inconsiderable compared to the ones included in the memorandum, that is, the agreement between the government and the troika, so that our country could take the aid of 110 billions from the imperialists’ banks. In brief, the measures, which have already started being implemented, aim to reduce pays and pensions by 50%, at least, degrade the social security system (in effect, to abolish it), reduce the public expenses on education and health by 50% at least, totally privatize the public property (from enterprises to beaches, islands and monuments), totally abolish working relations (abolishment of collective agreements, abolishment of fixed working hours, overtime work, allowances, permanent work, dismissal of public servants, etc) and extremely increase of taxation. It is the biggest and most violent wealth redistribution ever occurred in the history of Greek capitalism.
The labour struggles
The shock that the labour masses and the people suffered, by the outburst of the crisis and the measures, is huge. The rage, discontent and disgust, which have been piling up for years and have led to magnificent outbreaks from time to time, were intensified and manifested with unprecedented impetus in the last mobilizations. Another characteristic of these mobilizations is the quest –even though in a still confused way- of something radically different which will help us avoid paying for the crisis and sinking into abjection and dehumanisation.
Thus, the first general strike, after our entry into IMF, took place on 5th May and was the biggest strike and demonstration ever in Greece. The demonstration in Athens had more than 400.000 people and in Thessalonica more than 25.000. Thousands of small and bigger trade unions of the public and private sector participated in these demonstrations with their banners. The general strike was widespread and many petty-bourgeois layers participated, in a great degree, in it (mainly small shop owners, who closed their shops and, a lot of them even took part in the demonstration). In that sense, there has been, even in a spontaneous/ cloudy way, a reunion of labour and petty-bourgeois layers, after many decades, although this has not yet taken more organised/ political characteristics.
Despite the tons of tear gases, the great numbers of Special Forces and the unprovoked, brutal attacks, the demonstration in Athens had an unprecedented dynamic and militancy. Moreover, the demonstrators attempted to enter the Parliament twice, while there have also been minor conflicts with the police during the demonstration.
The general strike of the 5th May was a greatly political strike, especially against the political parties, the politicians, the political system and the parliament. Even more, it was a quest of what we have to do, what is necessary to get out of the current situation.
The trade union bureaucracy, both of the prevailing PASOK and the two reformist parties, did not dare to propose general strike for the next day too, a strike which had the potential to overthrow the government and the enslavement agreement with the IMF. On the contrary, a new strike was decided to take place 15 days later, on 20th May, which also was one of the greater strikes and demonstrations: in Athens the demonstrators were more than 100.000 and in Thessalonica more than 10.000.
Naturally, the decisive moment to overthrow the government and the agreement with the IMF was lost and, consequently, the movement started to decline. After a month or so, on 29th June, one more strike took place, this time against the double bill concerning social security and working relations. Although the participation in the general strike was very big, the participation in the demonstration was considerably smaller; about 50.000 in Athens and 5.000 in Thessalonica. The numbers declined further in the next general strike on the same subject, which took place almost a week after the 8th of June (10.000 in Athens, 1.500 in Thessalonica).
Even though this circle of general strikes is over, a new and greater circle of strikes, struggles and demonstrations is expected to begin in September. The reason is that the announcement of the second packet of measures is expected to start in September, while the declaration of the bankruptcy and insolvency of the country must be considered certain and, in that sense, the more general bankruptcy of the parties, the political system and the Greek capitalism.
The smaller struggles
During the whole first half of 2010, along with the great general strikes, there have been hundreds of small and bigger strikes or struggles in various work places. These have mainly aimed at particular demands such as the prevention of dismissals, the resistance against the closure of factories, the cut-back of allowances or pays, the sudden change in working relations, the prevention of various types of arbitrariness on behalf of the employers, etc. In their vast majority they were struggles which took place against the will of the trade union bureaucrats or at least with their tolerance, as the situation was extremely pressing. Many times they were spontaneous outbreaks of the working people and, almost always, they were accompanied by fierce forms of struggle such as occupations of public buildings, blockade of national highways, repeated demonstrations, unannounced strikes, etc.
It is worth mentioning the exemplary struggle that outbroke in three restaurants in Thessalonica. This struggle was started by us, as Workers’ Counter-attack, as we believe that, from now on, our struggles will be struggles for the survival of the working class, the overthrow of the IMF’s occupation government, the confrontation of the bourgeoisie and imperialists’ effort to rob the working class of every gain and turn it into slaves. Moreover it was started by us because we believe that, from now on, we will only have whatever we manage to gain ourselves through our struggles, despite and against the crisis and the total attack of the government –in other words, it is us who must undertake to impose a solution on the crisis. So, we started a struggle against the arbitrary dismissal of a colleague, member of our organisation, from a restaurant, demanding, at the same time, the implementation of all the labour gains, many of which were not applied in the above mentioned restaurant and more generally in this work sector, long before the IMF appeared. We got on to create a solidarity committee of trade unions and working people, with which we held daily protest demonstrations outside the restaurant. When the owner suspended the running of the restaurant, we continued with acts of economic backing of the workers (concerts, etc) and kept their issue present and discussed in the city.
One more restaurant, where a member of Workers’ Counter-attack was working too, entered this struggle. In this second restaurant, the workers took the self-management of the shop as a response to the owners who were threatening to dismiss the staff.
Finally the workers of a café in Thessalonica also used the protest demonstrations and, in this way, they managed to sign labour agreements with the employers and take the money that they were owed.
This struggle, even though it concerns very few workers, is exemplary because it has taken place in a work area where the dictates of IMF had already been prevailing, a work area where the vast majority of workers is young with an unprecedented determination. From the very beginning it adopted forms of self-organisation and militant forms of struggle. Above all, however, this struggle is important because it has been able to produce solutions, which can be the only way out of the enormous dead-end we are facing in our country today.
Organization of Communists Internationalists (Greece)