The government once again puts into practice another long-standing demand of the Greek Industrialists’ Association. Work six days a week. Six days of endless exploitation of workers, six days of work without breathing. Six days of non-stop work to bring huge profits to the capitalist interests. This is an anti-labor measure of the law Georgiades passed by the government of New Democracy in 2023, which provides the employment to multiple employers for up to 13 hours a day.
All governments to date have put their signatures on it to get us to six-day work. ND (1990), 4 laws of PASOK and 2 laws of ND and one of SYRIZA.
It is yet another anti-labor implementation of a European Union directive. This directive that the bourgeois parties of Greece and not only consider it beneficial for the workers. They consider it “normality” if the worker works up to 65 hours a week in a 5-day job, or 78 hours per week in a 6-day job, since the only thing that is “guaranteed” is the 11 hours of rest, i.e. up to 13 hours of work a day.
The government’s main pretext for the 6-day work week, especially in industry, but also in other sectors, was the lack of workers. In fact, they say that “the five-day job sets back productivity because there is difficulty in organizing rolling shifts in a proper way.” Thus, on the altar of business profitability, they sacrificed the five-day working week, while of course refusing to recruit workers. The cherry on the cake is the 4% increase in the hourly wage for the sixth day.
What does this mean? Increased exploitation, with longer working hours with direct consequences for workers’ health. Employer crimes due to the lack of health and safety measures due to intensification are increasing every day. Every day our colleagues do not return to their families, to their children. And almost always the one to blame is “the careless worker” etc. For all the above the government says that it inspects the employer. This is a big lie. Labor inspections are non-existent. The inspection services have huge infrastructure and staff shortages. Of course, the funny thing is that they talk about an independent authority when it is well known that the direction given by the government itself is “don’t bother the employer”.
Employers are unscrupulous, acting against the workers.
They say that the law will be enforced when the employee wants it. This is a big fraud. Employers threaten workers if they refuse even with dismissal.
What they want is everything for the employer. Work from morning till night for the profits of the business groups. They want us to live only in order to work. To be exploited by the employer as much as he wants, the way he wants, when he wants, where he wants and
of course to pay miserable wages without Collective Labor Agreements. The worker will find himself without leisure time, without cultural time, without rest.
From this point of view, PAME, the Regional Trade Union Centers, the Federations, the Trade Unions that coordinatein its ranks have fought and are fighting in order this law not to be passed in practice. Their sordid practices must remain on paper.
For example, the struggle that the workers of the Hellenic Gold Mines have given and are giving is very important. And it concerns working time. The words of a trade unionist in the field give the whole content of the struggle: “the real gold is the working time. They are exploiting working time to make more profits”. So, this is why the European Union, business groups and governments are mercilessly attacking stable working time, utilizing the unpaid work, its complete flexibilization.
At Hellenic Gold, in one of the contracting companies, the company demanded the workers to work 12 hours for 4 days a week because it was deemed to be in its interest. This is the so-called 4-day European Directive. In effect they are telling workers that if your wage is not enough (which ends on the 15th of the month anyway) work all day and don’t get paid for all hours, taking advantage of the digital job card where an hour of unpaid work is given as a gift to the industry owners. That means half an hour before the start of the job and half an hour at the end of it are not considered as working time. With the endless attendance that can reach up to two hours, the employer is given the opportunity to cover the undeclared work and constantly change the working hours. This is why the government is funding the Recovery Fund with billions.
Against this anti-labor attack the answer can be given by the working class and its trade unions by using all forms of struggle. To strengthen the organization, to strengthen the coordination, especially of young workers. The working class of our country can send all these provisions to the dustbin. As it did with the law against demonstrations and other provisions of the Hatzidakis law.
PAME is leading this struggle.
No compromise with the normality of capitalist barbarity. No retreat, no tolerance to the employers’ profits for the sake of competitiveness. There is another path for the working class. The path that the capital and its profits will lose. To strengthen the joint action of workers, self-employed, poor peasants. With the overthrow of the negative correlations in the GSEE and ADEDY, the governmental and employers’ trade unionism (PAKE – DAKE – SYN).
Now in the era of the enormous development of science, new technologies, artificial intelligence we will not tolerate to become slaves. There are all the conditions for workers to work less and enjoy more.
The working class can, through its organization, its coordination, its struggle, to throw out of its way the obstacles that are capitalist ownership, criminal profit and put forward to take in its hands the wealth that it produces every day and is enormous.
