Strike on May 20: Another successful battle of PAME

Millions of strikers and tens of thousands of protestors, workers and young people, gave one more strong response to the anti-people offensive condemning the severe anti-people measures with their participation in the 9th successful strike of All workers' Militant Front (PAME) in five months.

Early in the dawn a few hundreds of strikers of PAME occupied the building of the Ministry of Labour denouncing the new round of anti-people measures by the government, the EU and the IMF. They hanged a banner on the building's façade bearing the slogan “Reject the measures”. The river of the strikers headed for the Ministry of Labour which has been the heart of the struggle of the class oriented forces. Public buildings were also occupied in other cities across the country.

Once again, despite the fact that the media tried to bury the strike demonstrations of PAME, the working people turned their backs on the compromised yellow leaderships of GSEE-ADEDY (trade union federations in private and public sectors) and transformed the demonstrations of the class oriented forces to massive rallies that attracted the majority of the strikers.

In their speeches the representatives of the class oriented forces pointed out the recent announcements of the social democrat government about social security system. The new measures bring a dim future for the working people as they force the people to work more than 40 years, they increase the retirement ages, they reduce the pensions and transform them to a starvation allowance of 360 euros while at the same time they abolish the list of hazardous occupations.

At the same time, communists combined the strike with a significant ideological and political struggle against the propaganda of the bourgeoisie claims that strikes allegedly damage tourism and promotes vile anticommunism and propaganda against PAME. The class oriented forces revealed that when capital talks about tourist development, it means the development that benefits the monopoly groups; it means the “Greek tourist paradise” where workers work like slaves, while at the same time the Greek people experience the shrinkage of the duration of their holidays as well as of the number of the workers who can afford holidays.

The demonstration in Athens was held at the square of Omonoia, at the centre of Athens. Representatives of PAME, Αll Greek Antimonopoly Rally of the self-employed and the small tradesman (PASEVE), All Peasants' Militant Rally (PASY), Students' Militant Front (MAS) saluted the rally. Thereafter, in a militant atmosphere, the blocks of PAME headed for the ministry of Labour without giving any rise to the provocation of the mechanisms of the bourgeois system.

We should also note that the wave of multiform and touching solidarity of communist and workers' parties, trade unions, mass organisations, workers and young people continues growing.

The working people, the self-employed, the young people declared that the struggle will continue even more dynamically paving the way for the people's alliance, for the alliance of the working class and its allies.