Manesis, the owner of the Greek Steel factory, keeps on pushing it, by being rigid and provocative against the workers, despite their efforts and their constructive proposals for the re-opening of the factory. The workers refuse to be become slaves and in doing so they live a hard, multifaced and coordinated attack, which blames the trade union of the steelworkers, PAME, on the workers’ demands and on their steadfast position.

The Government and the Ministry of Labour must stop washing their hands clean of this; they must take full responsibility and provide the workers with a solution. On the one hand they offer their compassion to the workers and on the other hand they offer everything to Manesis. The last press releases coming from part of the Media and people working for Manesis slander the trade union and the steelworkers’ struggle and are by no means random. They are parts of the plan to terrorise with threats and blackmails, to break the steelworkers’ proud struggle, and show “green light” to the employers in total.

In this game of impressions one loyal ally of Manesis is the governmental and employers’ trade unionism. They never lose the chance to attack the trade union, for the tactics it has been following, and to advice it to submit. On Thurdsay Mr Panagopoulos(president of GSEE), making statements in one of the state TV channels, supported the position that “mo matter what salaries and working relations, as long as jobs aren’t lost”.

Right now the capital has got one and only goal. They want to crush the price of labour power, under the conditions of crisis, so all these can be used as “fertilizers” in order to achieve recuperation. The struggles the workers not to become slaves, is called “blackmail” and “the cause of shutting down the factories”. On the other hand wages of 400 euros and crushing the workers’ lives is considered healthy entrepreneurship and necessary realism.

Workers do not shut down the factories.

Those who suffer the consequences of the factories shut downs are the workers and not the employers. The employers go on with their lives and keep on being considered stable investors and the main part of development. That is why governments provide them with new privileges and at the same time they pretend not to see the employers’ uncontrolled actions like what Manesis is doing right now.

Lots of businesses have shut down these last years and thousands of workers have been made redundant. This has not happened due to allegedly maximalistic demands and due to the struggles of workers. The products produced have never ceased to be necessary according to the social needs and their demand has never decreased.

Capitalist ownership, anarchy in production and the pursuit of max profit are the reasons the factories shut down. This is why plants and sectors, necessary for the fulfillment of social needs and for the development of the country’s economy, in accordance to the existing, rich resources, like textile industry, ship building etc are shrunk and meet slow death. This is why the majority of enterprises, in various areas and sectors were transferred to other countries, in the pursuit of more profits.

Bearing all these in mind, it is clear that all these people who try to find a solution for the steelworkers- and praise their struggle but at the same time advise the steelworkers to get back to work, so that the factory will remain open- are against the steelworkers’ heroic struggle, and against the interests of the working class, they fully support Manesis and the capital. They are the same who criticize every workers’ struggle; they are the ones who slandered the strike in tourism sector a few days ago, claiming that the strikes were against the national interest but at the same time made no comment on the fact that 7 out of 10 Greeks cannot go on a holiday.

All these have to answer convincingly to the list that follows:

The factories of:

• United Textile (Lanaras)

• Fertilizers

• Sugar

• Diamond Greece

• Triumph

• Sisser Palco

• Flora

• Katselis Thesaloniki

• Ideal Standard

• Foco

• Sidenor

• Shipyards of Skaramaga

Have all these been shut down by the workers?

And of course there is more. The factories:

• Of Softer in Drama, Northern Greece,

• The Mines of Kassandra, Northern Greece

• Of Katerina in Pierria, Northern Greece

• Bianca Pangaion Mountain in Kavala, Northern Greece

• Pindos Industry in Grevena, Northern Greece

• Florina- Chonaios in Salonica

• Trikolan Industry in Naoussa, Northern Greece

• Kamatatis Construction Company in Athens and Salonica

• Anker Company in Evros, Northern Greece

• Kalton Company in Salonica

• Michailides’ cigarettes Industry in Xanthi , Northern Greece

• Iliades Group, in Salonica, Pierria and Kilkis, Northern Greece

• Konti

• Viosol Industry in Magnisia, Central Greece

Have also been shut down by workers?

627 small and big enterprises have shut down in 2012 according to data given by the Industry Chamber of Salonica. Have all these shut because of the struggles of the workers?

They have to stop slandering the steelworkers’ strike. Their 9month strike is a modern lesson of class struggle and dignity. Nobody can slander it.

July 2012

The Executive Secretariat