Militant initiatives of the class unions the last days pressured the Government to declare specific measures of protection for the workers from the Heatwave.

PAME Press Release stated: the unions in the frontline for the protection of life

The prolonged heatwave expected in our country necessitates the need for immediate mobilization of trade unions to protect the lives and health of workers.  Workplaces have already been turned into hellholes by the employers and governments, with an escaltions of accidents at work and occupational diseases. The risks to workers are multiplied in heatwave conditions, because alongside the intensification of work and exhausting working hours, heat stress multiplies the risks to workers’ health, especially for vulnerable categories with chronic problems. A typical example is the death – murder a few days ago – of a 57-year-old worker at the Elefsina shipyards, who, although he had a heart condition, was criminally forced by the employer to work overtime at 37 degrees Celsius in the open air, without any protection measures.

 Mining factories, construction sites, ports, cargo holds, become death traps on hot days. Workers working outdoors and in outdoor work are exposed to the effects of the weather (construction, delivery, courier services, cleaning and greenery services in municipalities, etc.). A hat, goggles and a bottle of water are not solutions, as is often heard in workplaces.

At the same time that big businesses are blackmailing workers to continue working in heatwave conditions, while governments have dismantled any state control mechanisms, the Labour Inspectorate. By turning it into an ‘Independent Authority’ they are throwing the ball of responsibility for checking that employers comply with health and safety measures.

Workers have nothing to expect from employers and governments. Only through our intervention can we protect our lives. PAME calls on all trade unions to mobilise immediately for the protection of workers, to take initiatives, to come forward, not to let the employers’ impunity go unchecked. Demand and enforce the adoption of all necessary measures.

In particular, PAME demands for the days of the heatwave:

Immediate cessation of all outdoor work when the temperature exceeds 38 oC or lower depending on the relative humidity. Similarly, immediate interruption of work in particularly heat-stressed areas (shipyards, machine shops, foundries, shipbuilding, glassworks, machine shops, greenhouses, etc.). Full payment of the daily wage without any reduction.

Full absence from work in heatwave conditions for workers in high-risk groups (heart, lung, diabetic, kidney, pregnant women, etc.). Full payment of the daily wage.

Frequent breaks of appropriate duration, depending on the environmental conditions and the characteristics of the work, the intensity of the work and the work uniforms used – PPE, in order to prevent heat stress for workers.

limiting heavy work when temperature and humidity conditions create suffocating conditions.

Providing workers on a continuous basis with cool drinking water near their workplace.

Providing adequate air-conditioned break areas for workers to rest.

The Unions interventions succeeded, after protest and meeting with the Minister of Labor to the issuing on Wednesday 12 July 2023, of Ministerial Decision (No.65581) which sets out the measures for the protection of workers from the heatwave.

Among the measures included in the Ministerial Decision are:

The compulsory cessation of work in areas where the risk of heat stress becomes extremely high between 12:00 and 17:00

The provision of remote working through teleworking for private sector workers in high-risk groups

Measures to organise working time and to facilitate workers’ arrival and departure from work

Technical and organisational measures to prevent thermal stress for workers

Specific provisions for outdoor work and the provision of personal protective equipment

PAME stated

We call workers in every industry not to accept “discounts” in health protection issues. To directly address their unions, PAME, for any violation by the employers in taking health protection measures.