We, the workers and trade unions of Greece in Commerce, we express our support and solidarity to the fight, of the employees of the multinational Carrefour which is forwarding thousands of redundancies in France and Belgium.

The multinational announced 2,400 redundancies in France and 1,200 in Belgium, using the so-called “voluntary departure” method, to ensure capital for new investments and boost its profitability.

Workers in France are organizing strikes and demonstrations for the period from March 30 to April 1. This mobilization is in the straight line of other smaller mobilizations which took place the weeks spent in stores in all France and the rally of the employees in front of the headquarters of the multinational in France at the beginning of March.

Throughout Europe, workers are being attacked by bosses with cuts in wages, the abolition of rights and dismissals to increase the profits of large groups. Carrefour, like all major European groups, uses the legal framework against the workers that the European Union has developed, a European Union which is nothing more than a union of large business groups and imperialists.

It should be noted that the administration of the multinational puts forward the competition from other international monopolies and its interests, more generally, to justify the dismissals. But workers and multinationals do not have common interests. Workers produce the wealth and the profits of large groups and they will not have to accept any sacrifice for the interests of the bosses.

Large corporate groups are helped in this process by forces within the unions, who accept that workers must make their demands such as the “growth”, “competitiveness and profitability” of multinationals. Thus, these forces cultivate an attitude of fatalism and defeatism among the workers.

We express our solidarity with Carrefour employees and support their fight for the protection of their jobs.

Trade unions

Union of Commerce Workers of Athens

Union of Commerc Workers of Thessaloniki