Under the main slogan “STOP the employers’ crimes”, “protection measures here and now” a national strike of workers in local authorities took place with mobilizations in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras and other cities.
The strike was triggered by the new industrial “accident” in the municipality of Xylokastro, where a 45-year-old worker, mother of 5 children, was killed in the garbage truck she was working. This was a continuation of the dozens of industrial “accidents” that have occurred in recent years in municipalities throughout the country and brought to the surface all the causes and responsibilities of mayors and governments.
In fact, the worker who lost her life in Xylokastro was uninsured, working in conditions of “black work”, with the responsibility of the municipal authority, which exploiting the known “loopholes” of the laws of all governments “hired” her overdue, when she had already lost her life!
In Athens, the slogan of the strike was given at dawn by the Attica Local Authorities Workers’ Union, with a symbolic occupation of the offices of the Independent Labour Inspection Authority , where they put up a giant banner on the front of the building. “64 workers dead – thousands crippled. Governments – mayors send us to our death – the Labour Inspection absent. All on strike”
A march to the parliament followed, with strikers chanting slogans such as “with a galley regime for workers, the employers’ profits increase” and “unpaid work and sweatshops everywhere, this is the rot of capitalism”. Sp. Kostantas, cadre of PAME, speaking at the rally stated “the government and mayors see the health and safety of workers as a “cost”. There were “accidents” under all government, with 64 fatal labour “accidents” have occurred since 2014 to date. No more”
