Response of PAME for the participation of youth to the strike rallies of the last 2months

During the last months, the working class of Greece has taken part in very strong fights and struggles against the monopolies-EU-government’s measures, which convict especially the youth, to the wage slavery, the permanent insecurity, the wandering around from unemployment to working for just a slice of bread to the several programs of education and back again to the unemployment. They want us to work until late anility for 200euro and 400euro, whenever our employer needs us, sometimes even for 12-13 hours, sometimes even 6 days a week.

To the strike rallies of PAME on 26/09, on 18/10, 6-7/11, the participation of young employees from the call centers of the public organization of telecommunication, of the municipalities(young people working with 5month contracts and still remain unpaid for months), of hotels, and commercial sector, stood out. Young people who are unemployed took part massively to the blocks of the unemployed committees of the labor areas. On the same time, massive was the participation of young people from the technological schools of training who took part with the students club, the struggle committees, and their trade unions.

Against the fullfrontal attack of the capital, EU, and the government itself to the consciousness and the rights of youth and especially the employed ones, the forces of PAME(Labor Centers, Federations, Trade Unions) take initiatives in order to raise the participation of the young people in all workplaces, in every trade union, to the schools and the neighborhoods. It is a very demanding thing to do, with a specific and insistent plan. The demands have to do with the situation of the life of young people.

It is essential to keep in mind the effect of the 1month contracts or even 1day, the day work salary, the difficulties that young people confront when they have a small child, the permanent wandering from unemployment to the uninsured work, that all these have to their life. On the same time, the blackmails which become reality to the workplaces and the deficit of class consciousness, affect young people much. Based on that, they have inhibitions regarding their participation to the organization of struggle to their workplace and their trade union.

Over the last period, fake tears are becoming more and more, from other forces in the movement, for the low participation of young people to the trade unions. It became more obvious now, from the representative of GSEE youth-an organization that expresses the governmental unionization-in a TV show regarding the decision of the European Council, who declares that the deductions on the salaries of young people, under 25years old, are illegal. Keep in mind that this specific decision is not obligatory for all the countries-members of EU. The representative of GSEE notes, that young people can fight for their rights by using the ordinances of EU.

They speak about EU and its anti-popular ordinances, which together with the governments, for years now, have become the undertakers of each single labor right, in order to support the monopolies, in every single country, through the super-exploitation of young people.

The forces of governmental unionization in Greece, express the line that ETUC and ITUC give on an international level which is “if the situation does not change, we may see young people develop an ongoing distrust to the politicians, to the social and economic ordinances, which we should avoid” –text of ITUC for youth, May 2012.

This is how they dream of the participation of young people to the trade unions: they want to keep youth subservient to the forces of capital and EU, to the forces which kill our future, they want them, the young employed and unemployed, to become fans of the EU and the parties supporting it.

The most dangerous thing for the consciousness of young people is the call to become friends with the interests of the employers, to fight through the trade unions for their employer’s support. To be thankful to the employer, because he gives them job. These are the proposals of the governmental and employers’ syndicalism for the youth. These proposals, are way reactive and rotten, just like their system. The system of working slavery, which forces young people to the unemployment, to the permanent insecurity and the poverty.

In conflict with the forces that support this system, with their political representatives and their representatives in the governmental and employers’ syndicalism, PAME not only makes a massive call, but also works specifically to condense the trade unions with new employees, young unemployed, young people from technical schools, working students. The enrollment of young people to the trade unions is a term in order to strengthen:

o The fights for the contemporary needs of workers, of the labor family and their children

o The organization of working class in order to confront decisively the monopolies and their domination

o The isolation of the calls of subordination from the Administrative councils of the trade unions in the workplaces

The question is: who gains when young people are away from the unions?

First of all, this suits the employers themselves, who aim at the isolation of young workers, the fear against them by negotiating the daily salary, the shifts, generally the terms of working, each one alone. Employers want them to accept the insecure work for 200-400euro for the entire life. They want, even more, to make employees accept that there cannot be a system without boses, without businessmen who earn money most of the times from the exploitation of the working class. In this direction is moving also the neo-Nazi party of Golden Dawn, which creates new offices for job-seekers.

A bunch of managers and professors to the technical schools teach some “subordinate” classes. They cultivate to the students that “ you are trainees and not workers, so you have nothing to do with the trade unions”, “if you are obedient to the demands of the boss, he/she may hire you after the thesis”, “normally you should pay the boss, since you are trained and you are a cost for him/her, so do not have demands regarding the earned money”.

Respectively, the persistent denial of the forces of governmental and employers’ syndicalism and oportunism, to enroll, to the trade unions of the former public businesses and to the municipalities, young workers who have specified-time contracts is not accidental, while on the same time they scream for the wannabe unity in the syndicalistic labor movement. Furthermore, some of them give the example of strike-breaking to the new employees.

The occupation with these issues from the councils of the trade unions, the youth committees and the fight committees means organization of respective diverse movements of unions, based on the recording of the businesses in every sector where young people work in a majority, the recoring of employers who fire older workers in order to hire young ones under 25years old with 400euro salary, the recoring of technical schools that have to do with the specific sector of the trade union.

In every case, diversive, instructive activity is needed, in order to attract participation to the movements especially of young people, because it has to do with their lives: activity for the hygiene and safety conditions-especially for young women-, for the young couples, even some manifestations for the history of the labor movement of a sector, celebrations against the drug-culture, film screenings theatrical plays, football tournaments even from a single trade union itself.

The develop of class solidarity through the trade unions and labor committees in this ongoing situation that the members of the trade union live and as well do their families, the workers, the fired ones, can finally bring up the real substance of the solidarity: organizations of the fight against the wretchedness, and not to get used to live with our poverty.

The life and the movements of a trade union, have to care for the class orientated consciousness of young workers and unemployed ones. Two camps clash each other: from one side there is the labor class and on the other side there is the bourgeoisie, with conflicted interests between them. A trade union should work in order to enforce on the consciousness of every young person the sparkle of organized reply to every workplace against the entire bourgeoisie class and its domination.

Only the forces of PAME can breathe optimism to the young people, in order to reply decisively to the fulfrontal attack of the capital, by enrolling themselves to the organized struggle, by participating massively to the strike rallies and their preparation.

Because the forces of PAME give a clear term for the measures’ character: in order to secure the profit of the businessmen, who keep on living on the luxury, is the enforcement of the exploitation of the workers, by breaking down every single working and labor right.

Because the forces of PAME, trust the organized power of the workers which will destroy memorandums and bosses. This fight in order to be effective, should not operate every now and then, and also should not has to struggle only for the change on the government. The more we realize who is our enemy, how strong is the fight, and the more the workers organize themselves to every workplace against the profits not only of the specific employer, but also of the monopolies and their domination, the more presuppositions will be created in order to have effective fights. And of course such fights cannot be organized when we have a s burden on our back, trade union councils which bargain how much will be the loss of the working class, in order to secure the employers’ profits.

The slogan “without you no gear is turning, worker you can do without boses” brings up the only promising perspective for young employees: to take in their hands, the wealth that they produce and as well the leadership in domination.