Editor’s Note: The is a statement released by PAME after the completion of the National General Strike in Greece on November 9.
PAME salutes the massive and successful strike rallies of the unions in Athens and in all cities of the country on November 9. The huge participation of the workers shows that the path of struggle against the business groups and the government, of militant struggle for wage increases, for cheap electricity and food.
Today the anger and indignation that all working people feel became power, massive participation in the struggle, participation in the strike. The images of the workers’ river flooding every street in the center of Athens cannot be hidden.
With today’s massive strike mobilizations, thousands of workers sent a clear message to the state and employers that they will not accept to starve, to freeze, the working-class families will not be sacrificed for the profits of the few.
We demand NOW to increase our wages, to sign Collective Agreements, to abolish VAT on consumer goods, abolish all taxes on electricity and gas, to have a big reduction and cap on their prices.
The mass participation in the strike by hundreds of workplaces was a response to all those who make our lives hell for the sake of a handful of parasites and the barbarism they condemn us to.
In this situation, workers, the unions, put themselves in the front line of the struggle, with the optimism that comes from the justice of our demands. It comes from the power of our collective processes that can cancel in practice the anti-labour laws, throw away the Hatzidakis law, break the terror, repression, overcoming the obstacles put up by business groups and their governments.
November 9 General strike is a message of escalation of the struggle. It is a message of uprising in every workplace, in every sector, in every region. Now it is necessary for the working people to come to the forefront for life and work with rights.
We are taking the situation into our own hands!
All in the unions – All in the struggle!
Thessaloniki https://youtu.be/2cQjoFozCho
Crete https://youtu.be/ue8cBDShVhg
Larisa https://youtu.be/gy7Sxw2JwU8
