2024-03-01 13:32:14
A message of defending life first and then life with dignity is being sent by public and private sector workers with the general strike that takes place tomorrow Wednesday, one year after the tragic accident in Tempe, where 57 people, mostly young people, lost their lives.
This also suggests the slogan of the mobilization which is “Our Lives Above Their Profits – Wage Increases to Live with Dignity”.
In Ioannina, the strike gathering will take place at 10.30 in the morning, at the Labor Center, following a call by the Labor Center of Ioannina, the Prefectural Department of ADEDY and a number of primary unions.
The victims of Tempe demand justice and accountability of those responsible, as the representatives of the trade unions and not only organizations emphasize, underlining that “the crime of Tempe will not be forgotten”.
“We will continue the struggle to hold those responsible accountable and to cancel any attempt to cover up the responsibilities”, noted the president of the Prefectural Department of ADEDY Christos Grivas, while the president of the Association of Primary Education Teachers Costas Parganas and the vice president of ELME Ioannina stressed the same Kostas Ganiatsas, who, in a joint interview, called on public and private sector workers to “attend” the demonstrations en masse.
At the same time, the demand, which is coming in forcefully from the workers, is the increases in wages, in order for the workers to cope with the punctuality and inflation. Mr. Grivas accused the government of taunting public employees with the increases that apply from the new year and correspond to 38 to 42 euros net per month. “Finance Minister Mr. Hatzidakis, with too much audacity, appears on the broadcasts of the N.D.’s MEP candidate. and other media, and states that the average net increase for civil servants in 2024 is 1,425 euros. He says it and is not ashamed at all, when all the employees in the public sector got their pay slips and saw the mockery with their own eyes. Fourteen years after the memorandums, where our salaries were reduced by 40%, gifts were abolished, the 2% solidarity levy was imposed, the two-year 16-17 was frozen, the tax-free was reduced, the government provokes with the crumbs of its income policy and leads the public employees in poverty and impoverishment”, he noted and added that at the same time the increases of administrative organizations and agencies reached 76% per month. “There is money. They are simply shared on the daily basis. Faced with this situation, we all have to react unitedly and strongly”, he noted.
The framework of the ADEDY includes a horizontal increase of 10% in the salaries of public employees, in order to deal with the accuracy and inflation, reinstatement of gifts, collective agreements, abolition of the wage freeze of the two years 2016-17, abolition of the 2% levy in favor of unemployment, an increase in the tax-free allowance to 12,000 euros, an increase in the allowance for unhealthy work, staffing of critical public bodies and upgrading of infrastructure.
“One year later, we claim the obvious. For justice for the 57 souls that were lost, but also because we should all live with dignity from our salary. In recent years especially, both in absolute numbers and in value, salaries have suffered huge reductions, making everyday life difficult without ensuring a decent life”, noted Mr. Parganas, also expressing the teachers’ opposition to the ministry’s educational policy.
“The government does not want the good of the place”, emphasized Mr. Ganiatsas, noting that this is also seen in the case of Tempi, but also in the everyday life of the citizens. “All the people of Ioannina should come out and shout,” he noted, adding that the problems and goals are common for workers in the public and private sectors.
THERE: “Their Profits or Our Lives”
“Their profits or our lives” is the message that the Labor Center of Ioannina is sending with the strike on February 28 and the gathering at 10.30 in the morning, in which public and private sector workers will participate.
“One year since the prescribed crime in Tempe, the slogan “It’s their profits or our lives” unites and expresses all the claims of our people against the barbaric system of profit! One year later, we are making our promise a reality! The crime will not be forgotten! The attempt to cover up the criminal policy of the EU should not be allowed to pass. and all the governments that implemented it. The policy that measures everything by the profit of the capitalists by sacrificing even human lives”, emphasizes the Labor Center of Ioannina, contrasting the profits of billions with the inability of households to cope with the precision.
“They are not fooling us! The government’s measures are, in fact, a mockery since they do not cover the needs, but reproduce the causes of the revaluations, as neither the prices of the products are reduced, nor the wages of the workers are increased, nor are the taxes for the people abolished, which would be great and immediate relief. The policy defended by the ND government as well as the parties that support the system of exploitation allows business groups to raise prices whenever and as much as they want to multiply their profits”, he emphasizes, calling on workers of all branches, farmers, of small and medium-sized professionals and students, to respond competitively and take into their own hands the issue of wages and collective agreements, the fight against precision and the anti-popular policy “that measures our needs as costs. We are stronger! We are the many! Our fights are fair!”, he emphasizes, among other things.
Invitations to participate in tomorrow’s gathering and march are also addressed by the Ioannina Chamber of Commerce, the Ioannina Municipality Employees’ Association, the “Unity – Mobilization” faction of the Employees’ Association of the Municipality of Ioannina, the Association of Civilian Retirees of the Prefecture of Ioannina and the Union of Salaried Geotechnicians of Northwest Greece.