Greece has been going through a period of intense labor struggles for quite some time now. The next step for the workers' unions is the nationwide strike they have declared for the upcoming May Day. This is going to be the third general strike in Greece within 63 days, following numerous smaller, sectoral strikes, including in the food industry.
Stills from the 2023 May Day rally of Greek and immigrant workers in the key strawberry-growing area of Manolada, Ilia. Credit: Pamehellas
Workers place at the top of their demands the implementation of free collective bargaining with employer unions for Collective Labor Agreements that provide for substantial wage increases. They are also taking advantage of the historic and international character of May Day to strengthen their demand for mandatory 8-hour working shifts, against which there have been many legislative decisions in recent years, to express their solidarity with Palestine, and to call for no involvement of Greece in foreign wars.
Stills from the 2023 May Day rally of Greek and immigrant workers in the key strawberry-growing area of Manolada, Ilia. Credit: Pamehellas
Food industry workers are joining the May Day strike, following decisions from the Panhellenic Federation of Workers in Food, Dairy, and Beverages, as well as various local unions. These include all the major fruit and vegetable growing areas of Greece that are currently in their productive phase, such as Ilia (strawberries, vegetables, watermelons), Achaia (lemons, strawberries), and Messinia (greenhouse vegetables).
Stills from the 2023 May Day rally of Greek and immigrant workers in the key strawberry-growing area of Manolada, Ilia. Credit: Pamehellas
May Day has officially been declared a public holiday since 2017, so many enterprises would, in any case, either underoperate or not operate at all. However, the declaration of a new nationwide strike by the top employee confederations across both the private and public sectors, along with key sectoral unions, effectively halts even basic economic operations, further amplifying the expected impact on domestic logistics and international trade.
Two such cases are the operations of ships and ports, as both the Panhellenic Seamen's Federation and the union of workers in the container terminals of Greece's largest port, Piraeus, have declared their participation in the nationwide strike. This means that no products will be shipped on that day from Crete, a key greenhouse vegetable-growing island. So far, the Air Traffic Controllers Association has not announced its participation in the strike.
Photos Credit: pamehellas