Lionel Zivals, leader
of the Tendencia Piquetera Revolucionaria from Argentina, met Xaris Manolis,
member of the leadership of the 9 months strike at Halyvourgias, the metal
factory in Attika, Greece. Fire just before the defeat of the struggle, he is
now organizing solidarity actions with others strikes and struggles, solidarity
with the unemployed movement and others actions. He is a member of NAR and
Antarsya.
“AS WE SAY HERE IN GREECE TO THE
GOVERNMENT: ‘ONE DAY, AS IN ARGENTINA, YOU’LL HAVE TO TAKE THE HELICOPTER’”
LZ: Xaris, Could you
please tell me how did the strike begin?
XM: It was in October 2011. The employer wanted
to reduce the salaries between 40% and 55%, making us work 5 days, 5 hours each
days, and cutting also extra hours. From the start we knew that he was like the
“rabbit” of some capitalists: if he could do it, others would follow him. When
the decision was taken, we gathered and reject the plan of the boss. We said
that we wanted the 100% of our salary and if he fired anybody, we would start a
strike. So, the boss fired 15 workers, and the strike started. When the attack
of the boss began, the government wanted our defeat a lot, as they knew our
union had lots of left members.
LZ: and how did you manage
to develop a 9 months strike? Could you tell us the most important moments of
the strike? What was the attitude of the left parties towards your struggle?
XM: For us solidarity was very important, we
received amazing quantity of food, money to support the strikers, solidarity
demonstrations. We raise more than 1.5 M euros in solidarity, so every worker
on strike was earning 100 euros per week, in order to be able to continue
fighting. Tons of food arrived from Germany, Cyprus, Belgium, Sweeden, etc. PAME
[union front of KKE, RN] gave also lots of material support to the strike, as
they were leading it. Antarsya also did it. On the opposite, Syriza came only
once at the day 45 of the strike. Tsipras promised to visit the factory but he
didn´t do it. Their line was to try to make the government give us a solution.
We also created a propaganda committee, a
committee to collect money, a women committee. The women committee formed in
the struggle did a great job, managing to arrange lots of problems of the families
of the strikers. The lawyers union also helped us with attorneys and money. We
received great solidarity from others workers, from students, from pensioners.
I think solidarity was one of ours main weapons.
Regarding the important moments of the strike,
I think it was very important when we called a 24hs strike in Elefisa [the zone
of the factory, RN] and then in Attika [the province, RN]. The first one was
mainly frustrated by the bureaucracy of PASOK, who controls the GSEE section
there. They did “informative talks” in the workplaces so they block the workers
join us in the demonstration. The second one, in Attika, was very good; almost
20.000 workers joined us in the demonstration.
LZ: and why it was
defeated?
XM: From the start, the owner and the government
attacked us arguing that it was an illegal strike as it was decided in an
assembly, when it’s supposed to be decided with ballot boxes according to the
law. So when in May 2012 we did the election according to the law and we
decided to continue the struggle, the government changed the tactic: in June
2012, the police got into the factory. As we were blocking the way out of the
factory, to avoid the owner get out material worth in 50 M euros, the police
develop a great repression. Also a group of “strike breakers” paid by the boss
started to convince some workers to go to work again, promising that they will
be safe and employed, and they managed to convince some people and made a list
of 100 workers that said they wanted to work again.
At that moment, the representatives of the
strike gathered. The line of KKE was to “freeze” the strike, and going to work
again. I totally disagreed. I said that we had to go to the end, because if in
that moment we made a step back, we were going to be defeated. And that was
what finally happened. When we return to the job, many of us were fired,
including me.
LZ: and what is the
situation nowadays?
From the finishing of the strike until now, the
factory didn’t work more than 2 month. The boss did some half time work, some
“suspensions” [the workers don’t work and they earn half of their wage, RN],
etcetera. The situation is that now, workers are earning between 300 and 500
euros and only 200 workers remain. Nowadays sometimes I receive a call of a
comrade saying that I was right, that we would have had to go to the end.
LZ: In fact, from the Tendencia Piquetera Revolucionaria we
think that the challenge is mainly political: if we can develop a struggle
movement until overthrowing the government, because otherwise they will
continue applying the austerity against workers. That’s why in my intervention
in the 2nd conference of Antarsya I pose the need of a United Workers Front to
overthrow Samaras and the struggle for a Workers’ Government. In your opinion, which
are the political conclusions of the strike? Which are the tasks for you in the
political situation now in Greece?
I think that if we want to win, the workers
have to be united and fight to overthrow the government. There is no other way
out.Antarsya should focus in this struggle. As we say here in Greece to the
government: “one day, as in Argentina, you’ll have to take the helicopter”. I
think that it’s very important to address to the basis of Syriza and KKE, in
order to call them to fight in the streets with us. I am part of Antarsya
because I believe in its program and because Antarsya is fighting in the
streets. We have to fight against the debt, against euro and EU. It is not as
KKE says that we have to vote for them and wait. They have just blocked the
teachers strike with the argument that the children needed to go to school. I
ask myself for what. For what future if we don’t manage to overthrow this
government? KKE has an important presence in unions and they use it to block
the strikes; this is something we have to overcome. Also we have to overcomeSyriza’s
orientation: I don’t think we can change this from the parliament; I want to
destroy this parliament!
LZ: You know that
during the ‘90s in Argentina, as many workers were fired, the representatives
of the workers in the factories (those who were fighters, not bureaucrats),
started to organize the unemployed people and fight for their claims, as jobs,
subsides, food to the popular cookings. There were the origins of the piquetero movement, which then
intervened in the political crisis in 2001, overthrowing De La Rúa. It’s a way
to unite both the employed and unemployed workers. I do believe this is an
important experience for you to organize here.
Yes, I am working on it. I have made a
solidarity committee with the fired from the factory and we are developing some
activities in my neighborhood as meetings, festivals and so on. I am trying also to start a permanent
committee of unemployed workers in my neighborhood. Antarsya in my opinion
should develop this work in a national scope.
LZ: Anything else
you’d like to add?
No, thanks for the solidarity and remember that
it’s our main weapon to fight all together.
Athens, 4/6/2013
Tendencia Piquetera Revolucionaria is a
revolutionary organization from Argentina. Tendency split from the PO of Argentina and of the CRFI (Coordinating
Committee for the Refoundation of the Fourth International, represented by EEK
in Greece), was the only Argentinian organization that in the last greek
elections (2012) called to vote for Antarsya. We call for a united front to kick out to Samaras out.
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