Thousands strike against Greek anti-union laws
Socialist Organiser1980sTranscribed by hand from the printed page.
ATHENS, JUNE 4
A SERIES of strikes and mass demonstrations throughout Greece this week have mounted a serious challenge to the 18 month old government of PASOK and created a substantially altered political situation.
On Monday and again on Thursday demonstrations and strikes took place both in Athens and in eight other major cities and towns of Greece.
In Athens 50,000 demonstrated on Monday and substantially more on Thursday, marching through the city to Constitution Square in front of the Parliament building.
The mobilisations were in response to a package of legislation by PASOK designed to curb strikes and control militants in the public services — banks, transport, electricity, hospitals, water and telephone — about 200,000 workers in all.
These have been the most militant sectors of the working class, particularly the banks and the trolley bus workers.
There are two phases to the bill. Article 4 is designed to prevent strikes in the public services; and articles one, two and three are a political move against militancy in those sections of workers through the imposition of mandatory "workers participation".
This week's demonstrations were against article 4 which was enacted late on Thursday night (in response to which the demonstrators stayed in Constitution Square until after midnight). The second stage of the bill is due to be legislated in the autumn.
Article 4 doesn't actually outlaw strikes, but it makes them very difficult to call — most unions involved say impossible.
Under it, the unions — and the union federations — have to ballot their members and obtain a 51% vote before they can call a strike.
To make this very difficult, PASOK utilises a peculiarity of Greek trade union organisation, requiring not 51% of financial members (who have been those involved in voting in the past) but 51% of all those on the union's books.
Articles one, two and three are designed to back up these measures. PASOK doesn't call the measures "workers participation" but "socialisation" — although almost all of the services involved are already nationalised or controlled by local government.
PASOK presents "worker participation" in the most radical terms, not just as "socialisation" but as a part of Papandreou's "third road to socialism" (neither the road of Western social democracy not Eastern stateism). He even presents it as "socialism according to Marx."
In fact the measures are simply crude class collaboration.
They make an interesting comparison with attempted anti-union laws of the Wilson Labour government of 1966-70 and some of the policies of the 1974-79 Labour government, particularly the "workers participation" introduced into BL by Tony Benn and the creation of the National Enterprise Board (PASOK is in the process of establishing an NEB type body).
The size of the class response to the measures marks an important change in the relationship between PASOK and the Greek working class and opens up new conditions for struggle against this social democratic government.
This is important because PASOK came to power in October 1981 on a very radical — albeit extremely nationalist — programme. This included withdrawal from the EEC and NATO, the removal of the US bases from Greece and the removal of the anti-union laws of the previous government.
Initially it took some measures. It abolished all anti-union laws. It made lock-outs and the hiring of scabs illegal. (It was already more or less illegal to sack strikers).
This was very progressive (extremely progressive when viewed from Thatcher's Britain).
But it was accompanied by measures which provided for state intervention into trade union structures.
Now PASOK has retreated on many of these policies. US bases for example, are not to be removed forthwith but subject to a termination date sometime in the distant future.
Cost of living rises for the last four months of 1982 have been frozen.
This backtracking, however, has now met its response, not only in the size of the demonstrations but their content — overwhelmingly working class with big contingents from the sectors affected.
This shows that PASOK has mobilised a big section of workers against it, and that situation will not easily be reversed.