Subcomandante Marcos, message for Greece

19/03/2008

The state and your boss remind you: "arbeit macht frei" (Working makes you free)

wednesday 19th of March we are on General Strike

After a long time of waiting for the new "reform" of the social insurance system, the final details were finally announced at the 6th of March.

The government, claiming that the fake negotations with the labour came to a dead end, is about to smash thousands of employees, forcing them to work until their late years, giving a tiny pension to those who will finally manage to get old enough to receive them.

The merge of the pension funds aims to stake the adverse balance of the state fund; an advert balance that has been created because of the uninsured working positions and the skipping of the social insurance fees and the tax evasion by the industrialists and the employers.

The employees will have to turn gradually to the private insurance and healthcare. The unemployment will rise, since many employess will be forced to stay in duty until they meet the new augmented age limits, while others will have to queue up for along period, being unemployed.

Those who have been targeted by the government for being financially privileged are the young mothers, the precarious workers, the entire private sector after all; all these, according to the policy-makers are being overpaid, full of privileges and working rights. All this defines nothing but the final and the worst attack of the Capital against the working rights and the income of the employees. An attack which started in 1991 with Sioufa's law, went on in 2002 with Repas' law and is about to be concluded(?) now with this unacceptable draft law including hundreds of articles, which will have to be voted urgently on Thursday the 20th of March.

Employees and students militantly react to the reforms with long strikes and occupations.

* A general strike with a big demonstration has been declared for Wednesday the 19th of March
* In the electricity company, is trying to prove the strike illegal. A lot of regional blackouts take place, since the strike is still going on.
* The workers in the Municipalities, including the garbage collection, with repeated 48hr strikes; despite the strike breaking mechanism organised by the government in Athens and in Volos.
* Dozens of university faculties have been occupied by the students

athens indymedia