The 2024 May Day holiday may have been moved to May 7th, however, this does not mean that there will be no strikes and marches on Holy Wednesday May 1st.
Specifically, already ADEDY and the GSEE have issued calls for gatherings in the center of Athens on May Day, while the mobilizations will also include Panhellenic Maritime Federation (PNO) with 24-hour strikewhich means that there will be no sailings on Holy Wednesday.
For its part, ADEDY calls on public sector workers to actively participate in the strike and in the strike gatherings that will take place on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, throughout the country. The strike gathering of A.D.E.D.Y. it will take place in Athens at 11:00 am, in Korai Square.
With its own announcement, the GSEE calls all workers, pensioners and the unemployed to a gathering in 11.00 am of Holy Wednesday in Klathmonos Square.
Finally, the seafarers state in their announcement that the 24-hour strike on ships will start at 00:01 on Holy Wednesday and end at 23:59 of the same day.
ADEDY: The announcement for May Day 2024
“This year, May 1st, marks 138 years since the workers’ uprising in Chicago in 1886.
May 1st is a symbol in the struggle of workers around the world for better working conditions. It is a day of remembrance and honor for those who sacrificed, who fought heroically for our conquests.
The struggles of the workers of Chicago and later, achieved with sacrifices the establishment of the 8-hour shift, Social Security, the defense of maternity, regular leave, union rights, Collective Labor Agreements, but also access to social goods and free services Health, Education, Culture.
These conquests of the workers have been targeted by the Government of New Democracy, since with the anti-labor bills it passed in Parliament it abolished the 8-hour day, the collective agreements, as well as our right to strike. He privatized the supplementary insurance and the EFKA and drastically reduced spending on Health and Education at a time when the pandemic is galloping and we have mourned, so far, thousands of dead.
It thus dissolves the three pillars of the welfare state: Health, Education, Social Security.
A large strike mobilization on February 28 sent the message to the Government that the workers in the country are fighting to claim real increases in their salaries and not mock increases, like those given for 2024. The workers’ mobilizations will continue on May Day and with the 24-hour strike on May 21.
WE CLAIM:
- Increases in our wages, immediately, 10%
- Restoration HERE and NOW of gifts and in the State
- Abolition of the 2% unemployment levy
- Unfreezing of the Salary Scale for the two-year period 2016-17
- Tax-free at 12,000 euros
- Increase and extension of hazardous and unhealthy work allowance.
- Recruitment of permanent staff to cover the thousands of organizational gaps that exist in the State, especially in the fields of Health, Education, Social Security, etc.
- Supporting the NHS with generous funding.
- Repeal of the Hatzidakis Law (N4808/21).
- At the same time, we say no to the privatization of public organizations and agencies.
The Executive Committee of A.D.E.D.Y. calls on public sector workers to actively participate in the strike and the strike rallies that will take place on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, across the country. The strike gathering of A.D.E.D.Y. in Athens it will take place at 11:00 am, in Korai Square”.
GSEE: “May 1st is a strike”
“For the unions, May Day is a strike day and not a deferred holiday. The GSEE does not “claim” that the respective Governments declare the 1st of May as a holiday, and even a transferable one.
We invite all workers, pensioners, the unemployed, to the 24-hour General Strike for Labor Day, Wednesday, May 1st and at the Trade Unions Meeting, at 11.00 am in Klathmonos Square and at the Meetings of the Labor Centers.
With a slogan: “Eight hours everywhere, rights everywhere, the fight goes on!”
WE FIGHT FOR:
- PEACE, DEMOCRACY, JUSTICE, DIGNITY, EQUALITY
- RESPECT FOR LABOR RIGHTS AND LABOR ACHIEVEMENTS
- WE DEAL DAILY WITH THE CONSEQUENCES OF ACCURACY AND GROWTH, EXPLOATING COSTS OF LIVING, HOUSING AND ENERGY
WE REQUIRE:
- RESPECTING OUR VALUE AND PERSONALITY
- RESPECT FOR OUR HEALTH AND SAFETY
- RESPECT FOR LABOR INCOME
- RESPECT FOR OUR FUNDAMENTAL INDIVIDUAL & COLLECTIVE LABOR RIGHTS
- RESPECTING OUR SOCIAL SECURITY RIGHTS
Together for the collective and individual rights of workers, social justice and global peace”.
The PNO announcement for May Day 2024
“The Administration of our Federation, honoring the struggles of Workers and Seamen for Labor Day and recognizing the timeless message of Chicago in 1886, has decided to participate in the pan-Hellenic – pan-labor 24-hour strike announced by the GSEE as part of the celebrations for May Day 2024, which starts at 00.01 on 1-5-2024, Wednesday and ends at 24.00 of the same day.
The Sailors once again this year pay tribute, respect and memory to the emblematic day that literally changed the course of history and is identified and intertwined with the multifaceted struggles of all Workers in our Country and throughout the world.
In all the lengths and breadths of the globe the Workers are once again uniting their voice by expressing their solidarity, determination and irrevocable decision to continue fighting for a better world, for a better tomorrow for their children and their families.
The Mariners, with the value of human life and dignity at work in mind, continue and intensify their struggle by proposing, among others, the absorption of all unemployed colleagues, the elimination of black unsecured work, the implementation of collective bargaining agreements and legislation and the signing of new Conventions in all categories of ships, the immediate repeal of all anti-labor provisions which literally circumvent our very fundamental trade union rights.
A barrier must finally be put in place to the continuous violation of the legal hours and employment limits of the Mariners, the reduced organic compositions must be abolished immediately and new ones that really meet modern needs must be established.
The upgrading of medical care and the relief of our retired colleagues from the successive cuts to their main and auxiliary pensions by ensuring lump sums and their uninterrupted and timely payment are also imperative and immediate.
The preservation and upgrading of the Public Character and the Free Maritime Education and Retraining is the spearhead of the claims of our Federation which has positions and proposals that respond to the international leaps and bounds in technological developments and requirements that are shaped by the modern needs and requirements of Shipping ( decarbonisation, fair transition etc) and further strengthen the comparative advantages of the Greek Navy in the international arena.
Our Federation is on full vigilance and combat readiness to oppose and repel every effort and policy, wherever it comes from, that aims at our labor rights and conquests that emerged after decades of struggle”.
