(en) France, Organisation Communiste Libertarie (OCL) - The police stormed the main repository occupied Athens Metro (fr)

About 300 members of the riot police stormed the main repository of the Athens metro just 
before 4 am this Friday, Jan. 25 to remove the strikers who were holed up since yesterday 
and take control of the premises. ---- Workers on site, the number of one hundred, were 
expelled from the deposit Sepolia and at least three strikers were arrested. They were 
released three hours later. A woman was transported to the hospital. There have been 
scuffles but no real fighting or violence. ---- The police broke the chains that the 
strikers had installed, forced metal doors, fired the strikers and occupy the premises 
while dozens of others were deployed outside completely blocking access to the repository 
at the western suburbs of Athens to prevent the arrival of demonstrators united. With 
vehicles and vans located across the road, they formed a veritable "wall" police 
impassable, except for subway workers resume work.

The government has implemented its decision Thursday, the eve therefore, requisition metro 
workers to break the strike began eight days earlier. This decision is based on a law of 
"urgency" of 1974, in which it is defined as "any unexpected situation that requires 
immediate action to deal with the needs of national defense or necessity social or natural 
disasters or other threats that may endanger public health. "

Recall that the main demand of the strikers is their refusal to face a new collective 
agreement, the workers of the Ministry of Transport (while they are employees of a private 
company), which will result in lower wages 25% on average. Since 2009, between the 
abolition of year-end bonuses, wage cuts and tax increases, they have already lost 45% of 
their average real disposable income. For many of them, their base salaries will be 
aligned with the new minimum wage has been lowered to 580 euros monthly.

Requisition orders specify that employees transit risk arrest and imprisonment if they do 
not return to work.

Thursday evening, the authorities began to distribute notices to some 2,500 employees 
working in the Athens metro, trams and other means of transport.

The authorities have indicated that in the morning on Friday that some workers had pointed 
to their work. However, there should be no public transportation in Athens on Friday for 
all sector unions have called a 24-hour strike (a "blackout"). Fifty workers entered the 
deposit by that they did not do so voluntarily. They are among the first to receive the 
orders of "civil mobilization" [requisition]. They form a team of "emergency" to oversee 
equipment and facilities.

At 7 am, about 300 people (strikers and solidarity) were gathered outside the depot.

At 8 am this Friday martin, riot police still held massive filing Sepolia, while hundreds 
of protesters (strikers and solidarity) were gathered outside.

An event is called 16 hours Syntagma Square (where the Parliament) by different unions, 
collective and political parties. Several unions (electricity company, postal workers, 
teachers ....) announced walkouts in the day and called for this event. Other community 
continue to join this call, while others call instead to gather the filing of Sepolia. The 
subway workers union said he did not call for this event. It's a bit confusing.

Some subway trains begin to circulate in the early afternoon, the media and the government 
insist that the strike is "finished" and that "the situation is beginning to normalize" .

A rally was called for 13 h near the deposit. At 14:30 (local time), thousands of people 
gathered outside the deposit against the power of the police, despite the difficulties of 
access, particularly due to the general strike of 24 hours of public transport in Athens 
and Piraeus. A demonstration took place in Piraeus in the morning to call the workers' 
union urban train line.
A meeting of strikers is called in the afternoon, at 17:30. This meeting is "open" in the 
sense of solidarity people to attend. Some hope to make a time / space coordination beyond 
the metro workers unemployed, pensioners, workers, youth, users ... while a union official 
told the press "We are forced to return to work, otherwise it's the door" .

To be continued ...

Photos here:

http://epitropesdiodiastop.blogspot.gr/2013/01/blog-post_7997.html



The government ordered the requisition of workers of the Athens Metro

Thursday, January 24.

As they began their eighth day of the strike, the workers of the Athens Metro faced a 
general requisition order. Despite the risks of arrest and prison, they do not seem to obey.

After squats, striking workers who stand against the austerity measures, it is clear that 
the Greek State to the orders of the EU and the IMF, agreed to use the hard way to break 
up spaces for resistance and collective organization opposed to capital policy ...

So, the new phase of political "management" of the crisis and containment of social 
struggles, is not it? Prison for those who reject the misery and dare enter the struggle 
to challenge the austerity?

Thursday, January 24, 2013, the coalition government has taken the decision to requisition 
all workers of the Athens Metro. Development Minister, Costis Kadzidakis after a meeting 
with the Prime Minister and with the support of the judiciary, took this action to 
suppress the strike by workers against wage cuts, the elimination of their collective 
agreement and elimination of their rights as workers. The order of "civil mobilization" 
[requisition] will also take effect for workers in other public transport in case of 
strikes continue in solidarity with their colleagues and peers.

The Athens metro workers have been on strike since Thursday, January 17. For six days, 
workers in other public transport have joined their protests with several walkouts and 
strikes hours to 24 hours. Monday, January 21, the management of the private company that 
manages the Athens metro service has filed a legal complaint against the unions, and not 
surprisingly, the strike was declared illegal. The court decision before yesterday against 
the union of Subway Workers gave the government the green light to activate "emergency 
powers" to own a dictatorial regime.

The new order requisition hardly known on the morning of Thursday, January 24, workers 
gathered in the central repository Metro Sepolia and are barricaded to defend the strike. 
They disposed of the forklift behind the entrance gates of the deposit. From their side, 
the bus workers stopped the meeting that they were being taken to make the deposit and 
solidarity with the strikers. Workers trams, trolley buses, commuter trains and train 
urban area did the same, and a lot of people together. Thursday afternoon, no means of 
transportation had stopped in the city of Athens. Unions of all public transport have 
extended work stoppages due to be completed in the evening until midnight Thursday, 
January 24 and called for a 24-hour strike for Friday, January 25. The strike was 
supported by associations of workers and work centers in Athens and Piraeus, which called 
for the mobilization and stop work for four hours on the same day.



Workers are fighting against a further decline in their wages, which can reach up to 25%. 
Since the beginning of austerity measures and cuts in wages in 2009, they have already 
lost up to 45% of their annual income if one takes into account all salaries and bonuses 
year end .

The government has made the requisition of the Athens metro workers based on a law enacted 
in 1974, amended in 2007 to deal with "emergencies in peacetime." Accordance with the 
procedure prescribed by the law, the police must display a notice containing the 
requisition order on the front door of the home of each of 2,500 workers. According to the 
same law, in cases where workers would not return to work, they risk arrest, prosecution 
in flagrante delicto and be sentenced to three months to five months imprisonment. The 
requisition order starts at 5:00 in the morning, Friday, January 25. They can also be 
dismissed.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said: "The Greek people have made ??tremendous sacrifices, 
I can not allow any exceptions" . While the Democratic Left party (coalition member) 
called for more dialogue and regretted the "extreme choice" of the requisition, the leader 
of PASOK (Socialist Party), Evangelos Venizelos expressed his support Thursday night the 
government's decision, describing the strike as "unacceptable."

The struggle of public transport workers will continue. The unions have made it clear they 
will defy the government order. They have defied the court order, two days ago, had 
outlawed strikes one of their consecutive 24 hours. Tuesday, January 21, when they went on 
strike against a decision of "justice" with ill?galis? strike yesterday, the court seized 
again by management, has once again declared illegal strike this new 24 hours. The strike 
movement was, however, continued.

In the bus, the strike should continue until Tuesday, while unions Railway and commuter 
train service to the airport launched a dead stop work order until Monday. The answer 
given yesterday one of the union representatives of workers ultimatum that the government 
had launched Thursday, January 24 strikers to abandon the strike and return to work, is 
significant: "? this ultimatum, we say that we have nothing to lose, we lost everything. 
We will resist, even if they are stopping us. We are determined. The people are with us. I 
have experienced other periods, such as the seven years of the military dictatorship, and 
I see that they are worse now than then. They leave the tanks. We will resist " .

After a recent wave of deportation squats [see The Battle for squats in Athens ], which is 
still continued by a new decent cops January 15 in a busy historic "Lelas Karagiani", 
where 16 people arrested but could be reoccupied in the evening, the government continues 
its repressive policies by attacking frontally this time one of the most combative sectors 
traditionally working class of Greece: subway workers and those of transport Common Athens.

Requisition orders have been used several times in recent years, especially in October 
2011 against municipal employees cleaning (garbage) in the Athens area without this 
resulting in effect by retaliatory measures against strikers: this is part of the threats 
used to coerce workers to resume work. Thus, in 2010, a strike hauliers (including tankers 
supplying fuel gas stations) ended immediately after a similar measure. Will he different 
this time with the workers of the subway, bus, trams, commuter trains, etc.. ?

To be continued ...

The January 24, 2013

(Sources: verba-volant.info, ekathimerini.com ...)