A call to rally for the collective bargaining agreements

The mobilizations which were organized yesterday in many Greek cities by the All-Workers’ Militant Front (PAME) on the 23/5, were mass and militant, a rallying call for the defence of the collective labour agreements. The workers demand that new collective labour agreements be signed, with decent salaries and rights based on the needs of the workers. A return of the minimum wage to 751 euros for everyone, without age discrimination, as the beginning of a discussion and negotiation for wage increases.

In Athens, thousands of workers, unemployed, pensioners, women, with a mass and dynamic demonstration in the city centre loudly proclaimed their decision to defend the institution of collective labour agreements and to resist the slave conditions that are being created by capital and the government. PAME’s banner was at the head of the demonstration which said: “Hands off the Collective Labour Agreements. We have the right to live with decent salaries. We have the strength to impose our just cause.” This banner encapsulated the message of the demonstration.

There was a special moment in Omonoia Sq., when the contingent of strikers from the “Mevgal” factory in the dairy industry arrived. They have already been on strike for 28 days and were welcomed with applause by the rest of the demonstrators.

Afterwards, there was a mass march through the central streets of Athens, which passed by the Ministry of Finance, the offices of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises and the Greek Parliament, demonstrating the determination of the workers to defend their class interests, against the machinations of the EU-capitalists-bourgeois governments.

A large delegation of the CC of the KKE, headed by the General Secretary of the CC, Dimitris Koutsoumpas, was present at the mobilization. The GS of the CC of the KKE made the following statement regarding the meeting of the Greek Prime Minister with his counterpart: “The Irish miracle, which today’s government and other forces are extolling so much, is a miracle only for the monopolies, but it is a tomb for the working people, for their collective labour agreements, for all the rights of the workers.”