Members of the Union of Builders and Related Professions held a gathering in Takis Gargalianou Square and a march through the central streets of Larissa yesterday morning, as part of the strike mobilization that took place throughout Greece.
The basic demands of the strike were the recognition and distribution of “super unknown” insignia, which can help to address the problem faced by thousands of workers who are close to retirement but lack insignia, taking measures to protect health and life of employees, the declaration of the sectoral SSE as mandatory, the signing of construction site SSEs and the payment of an allowance to the flood-affected builders. Members of the Union of Salaried Technicians also participated in the strike.
The president of the Union of Builders and Related Professions of Larissa, Dimitris Tzimoulis, who was the main speaker of the gathering, explained among other things that the reason for the strike is because the problems are acute, despite the development that currently exists in the sector and the great profitability of manufacturers, which profit has exceeded all previous ones.
“Our daily wages are distributed with the precision that exists in all types of popular consumption, electricity, water, natural gas, fuel. While during the years of the capitalist crisis, employers did not even discuss signing collective agreements and daily wages had hit rock bottom, but along the way a relative recovery began in the sector, daily wages increased, other conditions were created, projects began to be carried out, and technical hands were needed to get their projects done and thus they were forced to sign with our KSSE Federation, after 13 years.
Of course, the employer says that the contract may not be implemented, various excuses will be invoked, the previous situation will remain, we should run to the KEP and sign on the basis of the EGSSE of artisans with less than 3 years, haggle over our badges, they will cut us off , to have them stolen from us, to sell them to the colleague who has worked on them, to not be able to complete the required stamps, for insurance, for the seasonal allowance, for pension. We now demand from the government to make the SSE that our Federation signed in 2021 mandatory for the whole sector, we can no longer take a daily wage in our hands and less sign that we take in the responsible statement in the KEPs, this cannot continue stealing, we don’t tolerate it anymore! We demand day and stamp with what we really get in hand, this is really the application of SSE.
We count the number of years and years it takes to retire and we live in fear that we will reach the age limit and not be able to get a pension.
Or when we get a pension, let it be a hunger pension” and he brought as an example many of his colleagues “who completed the years and do not have the required badges due to a ten-year crisis, we were unemployed, uninsured, it is not our fault for this”.
Finally, he noted that “a month and a half ago, the ND government voted for 13-hour work for 2 employers, not to pay overtime. The 6-day work, they want us modern slaves. We keep the 7-hour, the 5-day, the 35-hour days as the apple of our eye, because with today’s means of production, the productivity of work has skyrocketed. And there is a risk that they will cut us 20% from the stamp duty increase”.
The president of the Thessaly branch of the Union of Hired Technicians, Mr. Thanasis Pappas, and the president of the Builders’ Union of the Tyrnavos branch, Mr. George Kitsoulis, addressed a greeting, saying among other things that “the source of the problem is the profit of the few”. All the speakers expressed support for the Palestinian people.
K.G.
Tags: Collective Labor Agreement
