The workers of the Perama Shipyards went on strike for a second day yesterday, May 31 continuing their mobilizations, demanding essential measures to protect their health and their very lives, after the new employers’ crime that claimed the life of the 47-year-old worker at the Perama Zone and led to the injury of two other colleagues on Monday 29 May.
The strike struggle succeeded in the workers wining from the government and the ministries the imposition of protection measures and safety controls, but also to open the way for the Collective Agreement the have signed to be declared mandatory in the whole sector. This means confirmation of the Contract for better wages, less working hours and imposition of Health and Safety regulations.
Specifically, after an intervention yesterday afternoon, the employers’ union (SENAVI) was forced to submit the necessary request, something it had been avoiding for years. Following this development, it is now expected that the Ministry will declare the Agreement compulsory in the coming days.
https://twitter.com/PAME_Greece/status/1663964261444403202
This is the contract that the union managed to sign with the Zone employers in 2017, after 9 months of hard struggle. But since then, both the SYRIZA and ND governments have refused to make it compulsory, providing “cover” for employers to violate it.
Yesterday was the sixth strike held by workers since the beginning of 2023, with the main demand being imposition of protection measures and safety checks. Under the pressure of the successful strikes, as the assembled workers were informed, the government team with whom a meeting was held on Tuesday confirmed that inspections by the five-member Health and Safety Committees would be carried out daily and, in both shifts, (once a week and only from morning to noon). They also accepted to initiate the obligation for safety technicians to have more hours of presence, depending on the risk of the project.
During the 2nd day of the strike a series of actions was held 2 massive demonstrations were held in Piraeus, one in the morning and one in the afternoon with participation of thousands of workers in solidarity with the metalworkers’ strike!