Greece

Clothing company beating of Bangladeshi workers in Athens met with wildcat collective action

Bangladeshi workers in clothing sweatshop in Athens, Greece, were attacked by company thugs for refusing to work on Sunday. When their co-workers walked out in solidarity, the company fired 120 out of 180 of the working force. In response the workers have sealed the factory off forcing the company to withdraw the lay-offs and negotiate.

On Monday 23 of June 2008 Bangladeshi foremen and thugs in the pay of the “LADY FASHION” clothing sweatshop in Votanikos, Athens, attacked Bangladeshi immigrant workers who had refused to work in the previous day (Sunday being an official day-off in Greece), using iron bars and wooden clubs.

Corfu garbage-dump protest followup: renewed barricades met with plastic bullets by greek riot-police

20 days after the battle between residents of Lefkimi township in south Corfu and the riot-police over the construction of an open garbage-dump, renewed mobilisation of the residents is once again being met with repression and arbitrary punitive measures such as inhibiting farmers from accessing their fields.

One dead protester after barricades against open garbage-dump in south Corfu end in clashes with riot police

On the 29th of May residents of Lefkimi in Corfu erected barricades to stop the construction of an open garbage-dump near their town. Clashes with riot-police have left one dead, one parasylsed. The area is under police occupation.

The residents of Lefkimi in the south of Corfu island in greece are opposed to the construction of an Open Garbage-Dump (XYTA) near their town. The residents claimed that their marginalised, underdeveloped area known for its left-wing tradition and defience was being used as a refuse for the tourist-industry produced garbage of the north.

23 day long occupation of major power-plant in northern Greece ends in police repression

sign painted on the north-gate blockade

After 23 days of blockading the input and output convayor belts of one of the major power-plants of Greece by the Union against Unemployment, demanding re-employment, environmental reform and withdrawal of charges against rebel workers, riot police evicted the Agios Dimitrios Power-Plant occupation. Serious clashes have ensued in efforts to release the arrested Union members.

In the morning of the 10th of May 2008, the residents of Agios Dimitris,a town near the north-Greek city of Kozani, where the National Electric Company (DEH) holds its majors units, employing the vast majority of the working population, having formed a local Union against Unemployment occupied the north gate of the Agios Dimitrios Power-Plant, interrupting the function of the feed-belts carrying l

More strikes expected as Greece passes pension reform

Greek unions promise to continue protests against the government's pension reforms, passed on Thursday.

The pension reform raises the retirement age for women to 65 and workers in hazardous industries will have to work an extra two years. Many accuse the conservative government of going back on pre-election promises not to cut pension rights.

Greece heading towards general strike

Workers during last general strike in December

Greek workers are set to go on general strike tomorrow (Wednesday 19th March) in protest of the government's planned pension reforms.

The government's reforms would mean the merging of pension funds and increasing the pension age for some workers. The government, however, has not made public any details on the size of savings that will accrue from the reforms. The trade unions have also argued that the current pension system could survive if bosses were made to pay their contributions.

Workers continue to fight for their pensions in Greece

Walkouts by public sector workers against the pension reform bill are continuing, with a 24-hour general strike expected on Wednesday.

Last Wednesday saw a three-hour general stoppage called by the General Confederation of Workers of Greece (GSEE), during which doctors, engineers, pharmacists and lawyers joined bank workers and rubbish collectors already on strike. The day ended with a march on parliament attended by hundreds of workers.

Further walkouts by bank workers in Greece

National Bank of Greece Headquarters, Athens. Taken from http://structurae.de. Photo by Inge Kanakaris-Wirtl

Bank workers are on strike for the second time in two months as part of the continuing campaign against pension reform.

The strike has disrupted service at the country's central bank, and has brought chaos to electronic trading systems, as well as stock and bond trading. Thousands of workers have been on strike since Monday, and it was decided on Tuesday to continue the action.

Greece: general strike by public service workers

Public service workers in Greece have gone on strike, for the second time in two months, to defend their pensions.

The strikes have virtually paralysed the country as workers nation-wide seek to defend their pensions and protest against a government that has broken its promises.

Greece: General strike against pension reform

Thousands of Greek workers have joined a 24-hour strike in protest against reforms which could jeapordise pensions and jobs.

Launched by Greece's two largest unions, the strike has affected all public services, hospitals, banks, courts and airports. All flights out of Athens airport have been grounded after air traffic controllers, pilots and flight crews walked out, and ferry and metro systems across the country have been hit.

Cyprus: Airport workers wildcat strike

Workers at Paphos airport in Cyprus walked off the job for two hours over the weekend in protest against "degrading" security checks.

AP reported that police have stepped up checks at Paphos, Cyprus' second-largest airport, in recent weeks following European Union criticism of its security.

But a spokesman for the workers accused police of unfairly targeting some employees with excessive security checks, forcing one man to remove his dentures and requiring others to put their lunch through X-ray machines.

Greece: Acropolis closed due to strike

Attendants at Greek archaeological sites have decided to focus their strike on the symbolic target of the Acropolis in Athens.

The Acropolis will be closed this weekend as well as next weekend in support of workers' demands. They are currently calling for a bonus for night work, an increased bonus for working six days and week and for permanent jobs for contract workers.

Greece: Violent demonstrations against privatisation of universities

riot police blocking a street in athens

There have been violent clashes between police and protesters at demonstrations calling for an end to the planned reforms of Greek universities.

On Thursday, demonstrations were held against a law privatising Greek universities, university students, university teachers, some school students and zworkers joined a demonstration of 35000 people in Athens. There were clashes in the centre of Athens, outside the parliament buildings where the law was being passed.

A brief outline of the student movement in Greece, June 2006

Students demonstrate against the reforms

An article written by a group based in Athens, TPTG, in July 2006 about the struggle of students against neoliberal university reforms.

On the 28th of April, the Greek ministry of education published a draft proposal for a bill regarding the reform of university education. The key points of this proposal are the following ones: Specific regulations for the expulsion of 'inefficient' students.

Occupation, not democracy! Greek student leaflet, 2006

Greek university occupation, Summer 2006

This is a short text then a copy of a leaflet by a group in Thessaloniki called Blaumachen, about the student movement opposed to education "reforms" in Greece around May and June 2006.

Occupation, not democracy!
Introduction

Call centre report from Athens, Greece, 2002

A short account from November 2002 of working in a commission-based telesales call centre in Athens, Greece.

Teleprime is a call centre company which sells mobile phones and, more importantly, issues credit cards. It has many branches all over Athens (at least).

Greek school children occupy in support of teachers' strike

Rallies have been held by teachers, civil servants and pupils.

Schools students and civil servants have joined the nationwide teachers' strike during it's sixth week.

Rallies have been held in Athens and Salonika, whilst over 900 schools are occupied by pupils as part of an on-going battle over pay. There have been clashes between the protestors and parents, but the strike remains strong regardless. Students burned desks in the yard of one Athens school, after using furniture to blockade the gates.

Holidays in Albania - Part 1, 1997

An account by EP of the Albanian south between 20 - 25 March during the uprising, plus two characteristic dialogues.

This is the first of two articles written by two collaborators of "Alpha", a weekly Greek anarchist paper and published in issue 89, 7 April 1997

1941-1945: Andartiko - the Greek Resistance

Resistance - an ELAS partisan

A short history of the Andartiko - the Greek Resistance partisans who fought against Italian and German fascist occupation.

A short history of the Andartiko - the Greek Resistance partisans who fought against Italian and German fascist occupation.
[b]Its radical, democratic working class spirit was only put down after the Allied victory, by British forces and the Greek ruling class.

Greece: Migrants’ detention camps

An examination of the holding centres for illegal immigrants in and around Greece in so-called Fortress Europe.

The eastern borders of Greece, which are also the exterior borders of the European Union, are almost redrawn by detention camps. These camps are usually former warehouses (on the islands of Mitilini, Chios, Samos, Kos, Rhodos, Evia and in the town of Volos, central Greece).

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