On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, PAME expresses once again its solidarity to every woman who experiences violence and insecurity at work and in everyday life.

We especially denounce the horrific incidents of sexual abuse and exploitation of children.

Sexual violence and abuse are the tip of the iceberg of the multifaceted violence and social discrimination experienced by working-class women, with employer, state violence being the main cause.

Because violence is:

– In 2022 with the huge rise of science and technology, the enormous wealth produced by the working class, the working-class family being unable to meet its basic needs. Living in fear of power and water cuts. Not being able to heat our homes. Our children learning in cold schools.

– To abolish the Sunday holiday, to impose 7-day-a-week work, exhausting hours and mothers not being able even to see their children.

– The total lack of health and safety protection measures in the workplace, measures to protect women’s bodies, which results in one dead worker every three days, thousands of crippled workers.

– Pregnant women, women with family responsibilities being laid off.  

– Bailiffs and police storming into our homes at the behest of the vultures-banks-funds.

– To constantly and ever more deeply involve us in military competitions and plans and to live in fear of a generalized war.

PAME calls on the unions to strengthen the struggle for modern women’s rights at work, for the protection of maternity, so that no worker is vulnerable to economic and social pressure and blackmail.

Together with the condemnation of the abusers, we fight and demand all necessary measures for the full social protection and support, with the responsibility of the state, of abused women, children and the families of the victims.

We denounce the current government, which generously gives billions of euros to business groups, but limits any measures to prevent violence against women only to information campaigns. At the same time, there is a huge lack of public and free social and child protection infrastructure, with the signature of all governments over time.

Shield of protection for every working-class woman, for her children is the collective, organized struggle through the unions and the mass bodies of the movement, participation in the struggle for life and work with rights. This is how fear and isolation are broken, so that extreme and violent attitudes do not find a foothold.

We demand:

– To prevent violence against women and protect them we demand an extensive network of public and free social services and infrastructure, counselling centres, staffed by qualified and permanent personnel, not private companies and NGOs. Generous funding from the state budget.

– Staffing of schools with the necessary scientific personnel (psychologists, social workers, etc.), who will also identify and deal with the phenomena of violence and domestic violence in good time.

– Development of a single child protection body, under the sole responsibility of the state, with the development of modern public structures, together with substantial support for the institutions of adoption and fostering and full staffing of all public services involved in child protection.

– Organise information programs in schools and colleges, in the training areas by scientific, state bodies.

– Increases in wages, signing of collective labour agreements.

– Permanent stable work, 7 hours – 35 hours – 5 days, fixed working hours based on collective agreements, 6 hours – 5 days – 30 hours for heavy and hazardous professions.

– Legislation to confirm Sunday as holiday.

– Abolition of all flexible forms of employment, unpaid overtime, laws on working time arrangements and the undermining of collective agreements.

– Effective protection of working women and maternity.

We strengthen our trade unions, our collective, united struggle against violence and exploitation.