Support the Greek Seafarers’ Strike

The Greek government is once again using emergency measures to try and stop strike action in Greece, writes Andrew Burgin.

Two weeks ago the government sent the riot police into the Athens Metro workers’ headquarters and threatened union leaders with imprisonment if they dared to continue their strike.  This time it is the turn of striking seamen. They, like many other groups of workers, are battling to preserve their collective employment contracts. In industry after industry these are being torn up and wages slashed and harsh new working conditions introduce.

Despite this action by the right wing Samaras government, the Seafarers’ union has bravely decided to defy the emergency measures and they are continuing the strike at Piraeus. The union is now calling for a 24 hour blockade of the port.

Since the crisis ridden PASOK government revealed the extent of the financial crisis facing the Greek state late in 2009, there have a series of continuous austerity measures imposed by the Troika which have driven millions of ordinary Greeks into poverty. Life for many has become unbearable and there has been an exponential rise in the suicide rate.

Small businesses have closed in their tens of thousands and the unemployment rate has soared to nearly 27% overall. For young people it has reached nearly 60%. Pensioners have seen their pensions slashed.

At the same time, the Greek economic elite – bankers, the ship owners and others – avoid tax and grow ever richer. They have moved their vast wealth out of Greece and it languishes in Swiss bank accounts and props up the luxury property market in London. Where responsible and courageous journalists have exposed this tax evasion they have been threatened with imprisonment. The most notorious of these cases was that of the investigative journalist Costas Vaxevanis who went to trial for revealing the names of tax evaders on the so-called Lagarde list which comprised 2000 Swiss bank account holders from the Greek ruling class.

The Greek government has one strategy which is being repeated by governments across Europe – cut the jobs, wages and pensions of the poor and protect the banks and the rich. All the gains of the working class in the post-war period in terms of housing, healthcare, education, employment and pensions are not just being eroded but are being ended for all time. To take one example, it is now very difficult should you fall ill in Greece to get basic medical care and the drugs necessary to make you better. Many hospitals have run out of everyday items such as bandages. This is a population being stranded in a barbaric fashion. The people of Greece are a test case for what is going to happen throughout the rest of the continent.

The working class in Greece has responded to these attacks with great determination and heroism. There have been 20 general strikes and a series of long strike battles in many industries. There have been mass demonstrations and the left, albeit sadly divided, has grown in strength. The left-wing, anti-austerity party SYRIZA rides high in the polls and has a real chance of forming a government should the present one fall.

The great danger waiting not so silently in the wings is the emergence of the neo-nazi Golden Dawn party whose support has grown as people have become more desperate. Last weekend thousands of Golden Dawn supporters rallied in Athens in scenes not witnessed since the 1930s.

The determination of the Seafarers to continue their strike is of enormous importance. They deserve the full active support not just of other unions in Greece but throughout Europe. We must build a real solidarity movement with workers in Greece able to lend practical support to their actions and link up by taking co-ordinated strike action.

Support the struggle of the seafarers 

Their struggle is our struggle