“…Sometimes times change.
And the hopes of the peoples are breaking out … ” B. Brecht
HOPE LIES IN PEOPLES’ STRUGGLE!
EVERYONE IN THE STRIKE on SUNDAY MAY 1st
Workers, youth,
We honor the struggles of the working class, the bloody sacrifices of thousands of workers on the road to liberation from the shackles of exploitation! We hold the thread that pierces and connects the May Day of Chicago in 1886, of Thessaloniki in 1936, of Kesariani in 1944 and every May Day until today, a day – symbol for the right of our class.
Today in the shadow of another imperialist war in Ukraine that is killing people on the bloody streets of business profits, the raging attack of governments on the lives and rights of workers and the right to organize in unions and to fight, to strike, messages . May Day are a beacon of light for the workers of the world, they make relevant the slogan that “hope is the struggle of the peoples”.
Today, the messages of May Day are a beacon of light for workers around the world, in the shadow of another imperialist war in Ukraine that is killing people on the bloody streets of business profits, under the raging attack of governments on the lives and rights of workers, against the right to organize in unions and to fight, to strike. All these make relevant the slogan “HOPE IS THE STRUGGLE OF THE PEOPLES”.
Immediate Disengagement Of Our Country From The War Of The Murderers
No Participation In The New Slaughterhouse
The imperialists are spreading misery and killing the people once again, for their own profits. Russia’s murderous invasion of Ukraine is not a thunderbolt. No matter how many pretexts they find each time, we know that the truth that leads to new military interventions is the control of the wealth-producing resources and their transportation routes, the relentless competition of the USA, NATO, EU and Russia.
The imperialist war is the way out for business groups. It is the continuation of the anti-popular policies with more brutal means that plunges the peoples into misery, poverty and turn them into refugees. The negative consequences of the war are already huge for both the Ukrainian people and the people of the wider region. In addition to the massacre in human lives, the flows of refugees and uprooted from their place are even bigger.
The current government of Greece ND, like the previous ones, has involved Greece in the war. They have turned the country into a NATO base by upgrading and expanding US-NATO bases. With the systematic unloading of military vehicles and the transport of military equipment, our people are involved, even deeper in the new massacre on behalf of the Greek capital, which claims participation in the sharing of the spoils and the markets of oil and energy.
The workers of our country have no interest in choosing any alliance of murderers for the interests of the oil owners, the industrialists and the shipowners, the bankers, the industrialists of weapons. Here and now, we must strengthen the struggle for:
No participation in the war under any pretext and in any way, with military equipment, with military means, with expeditionary corps.
Do not use the Greek territory for the plans of the butchers.
Close all US-NATO military bases in the country now.
We do not accept new bloody sacrifices for the profits of our exploiters!
Our people have paid and continue to pay a great price, with cuts in salaries, pensions, income, with heavy taxation, under the responsibility of all governments, for the recovery of the profits of business groups. They do not have to pay with new dangers for their profits.
The crumbly increases legislated by the ND government by continuing to cancel collective bargaining do not solve the big problem of hikes in prices of consumer goods, fuel, electricity, water and low wages in Greece. More than 400,000 employees have a monthly salary of less than 500 euros. Part time and flexible forms of work are dominant. At the same time, workers’ purchasing power losses are over 13% in the last year, while inflation has exceeded 8%. The 4 billion euros that the country gives for its participation in NATO expenditures, at a time when the people are groaning to pay for electricity bills, gas and bread, is a provocation.
The government is intensifying state repression by outlawing one strike after another to silence the workers-peoples’ reactions and stop the struggles, while at the same time it is giving gifts to business groups, new opportunities for great profits.
With the “blessings” of the laws of all governments the criterion of profits, the workplaces are dominated by intensification, with endless hours, with flexible work. With the minimum wage stuck below the poverty line and with non-existent sectoral collective agreements, no employee knows where to start, what to pay, what need to meet first.
Workers
Do not have any faith in those who tell you to “be patient” until growth returns. To those who sacrifice the lives of you and your children for “national goals” as was done with the memoranda. Do not listen to the pleas of GSEE-ADEDY -ETUC members in Greece- for social dialogues.
Everything has the same denominator: To laundry the policy that wants the worker to pay double and triple for the profits of capital. Unemployment, unpayment, extreme taxation and inflation await us the next day. It is necessary to intensify the claiming struggle for:
Resumption of the collective bargaining of the National Collective Contract as a starting point for the increase of the minimum wage, claiming 825 € minimum gross wage
Wage increases above the level of inflation
Abolition of all taxes on electricity and gas, on consumer goods
Big price reduction and ceiling on prices on basic goods, energy, fuel
Debt write-off, no working-class people without electricity, water, telephone and food
Our needs come to the fore!
It is confirmed once again that there are no saviors for the working people! To get rid of unjust wars we must stand on the right side of history with the peoples fighting against capitalist barbarism. In order to breathe a sigh of relief, we must take matters into our own hands, claiming collective agreements with increases and substantial relief measures, the abolition of taxes.
To take our own path of development, outside of any imperialist alliance, which will have as its sole motive the satisfaction of modern popular needs.
With the working class at the forefront, in alliance with the small farmers and the self-employed, we are moving forward for the future that belongs to us, for the great struggle for the liberation of the workers and the oppressed from the shackles of exploitation!
We celebrate May Day with new struggles.
Everyone in the strike rallies across the country!
PAME May Day 2022 Posters here https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzLc71
