By Panagiotis Sotiris [1]
In the past three years Greek society has gone through a series of
extremely aggressive austerity measures, under the terms dictated by the
EU-IMF-ECB Troika that have led to a severe deterioration of living
conditions. It has also been experiencing a constant erosion of
democratic rights and basic civil liberties. Part of it is the attempt
by the Greek government to practically abolish the right to strike in
many sectors. Government representatives have repeatedly insisted that
it is time to get rid of the “anomic” forms of protest and struggle that
have been the main legacy of post-1974 radicalism.
The latest such example is the decision of A. Samaras, the Greek Prime Minister, to issue “civil mobilization” orders for all secondary education teachers, because OLME,
the Secondary Education Teachers Confederation, has announced that it
proposes to its member unions to stage a strike during the University
Entry Exams beginning May 17. The order issued by the Prime Minister
includes references to a potential “important disruption of the social
and economic life of the country” and to “grave dangers for public order
and the health of candidates taking the university entry exams”, and
was issued as a preemptive measure before the strike is even decided by
the local secondary education unions on Tuesday May 14.
“Civil Mobilization” is an authoritarian special legislation which gives
government authorities the right to commandeer services, vehicles and
equipment in order to deal with national emergencies, such as wars or
natural disasters. Any person receiving a “civil mobilization” order has
to immediately comply, or face prison and losing his work. However,
Greek governments have used it in recent years as a means to deal with
militant strikes. Recently, “civil mobilization” orders have been issued
for public transport workers and mariners. It is important to note that
a “civil mobilization” order, unless revoked, also prohibits any future
strike action.
Unions and many legal experts have called this practice unconstitutional
and in sharp violation of national and international laws and
regulations safeguarding the right to strike. It is interesting to note
that one of these experts is no other than the current Minister of
Justice in the Samaras Government, Antonis Roupakiotis, a former
president of the Athens Bar Association, who as recently as 2006 voiced
his expert opinion that the use of “civil mobilization” orders in
response to strikes goes against the Greek constitution that explicitly
forbids any form of compulsory offering of services with the exception
of states of emergency such as wars and natural disasters, and also
violates more recent legislation that attempt to define “states of
emergency” in ways that obviously make it non-applicable to a labour
strike.
Secondary education teachers have decided to stage their strike in
protest at recent legislation, which was issued in compliance with
demands by the EU-IMF-ECB Troika to reduce public sector expenses and
personnel. It includes the prospect of mass lay-offs of thousands of
substitute teachers, the ability of the Ministry to transfer teachers to
a different area of Greece each year and an increase in teachers’
workload, measures that seem like another step towards a further
undermining of public education. Teachers in Greece have already
suffered heavy wage reductions of up to 30% and the school system has
suffered budget cuts and school mergers and closures as a result of the
austerity measures.
The government, with the help of corporate media, has tried to demonize
teachers, presenting them as lazy, selfish and insensitive to the
anxiety of their students before the exams. This is very cynical, if we
take into consideration that the main reasons of anxiety of youths in
Greece today, who are facing a 60% youth unemployment rate, are exactly
the policies of the Greek government and the Troika that have imposed a
“death spiral” of austerity, recession and unemployment. In the sense,
the Secondary Education teachers’ strike is fully justified; it is a
struggle defending public education, against the violence of neo-liberal
cuts.
Hopefully, there has been a wave of protest and solidarity to striking
teachers. OLME is calling for a big rally on Monday 13 May to protest to
“civil mobilization” order, and the confederation of parents’
associations and many unions have announced that they will take part in
these protests.
It is obvious that current struggles in Greece are not simple protests
against austerity. They are struggles for democracy and resistance to
the imposition of a neo-liberal authoritarian “state of emergency.”
Greek teachers need all the solidarity they can get.
[1] Panagiotis Sotiris is an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Sociology of the University of the Aegean
