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October 8, 2020 call for strike – How and why were we led to the decision to strike?

All deliverers / distributers – couriers – outdoor office workers 

How and why were we led to the decision to strike? 

Fellow deliverers / distributers – couriers – outdoor office workers, on October 8, 2020 we will strike again making another “stop” in the “route” of the fight for our rights. Almost a year ago, in April 2019, we met colleagues, locals and immigrants on strike in a moto – march that flooded the city center ,claiming and shouting for a CORPORATE MOTORBIKE – MEANS OF PERSONAL PROTECTION – SINGLE SKILL CATEGORY – STAMP FOR HEAVY AND UNHEALTHY EMPLOYMENT and we won the vote of law 4611/2019. Many colleagues were tooled up with corporate motorcycles, helmets, paid gasoline, more stamps and their salaries increased by 100 euros per month. Words don’t matter, actions do and we have shown that if you fight with consistency and persistence, collectively and organized then you get victories, and we will not stop until every colleague gets what he/ she is entitled to, until no colleague’s blood is spilled again over a route. 

Colleagues, you are aware that the Asembly considers the struggle as a matter of consistency and everyday presence in our places of work and the streets. We also perceive the strike as a part of this process and not as something fractional and spectacle and wedont rest on our laurels after it is done.

The strike is a long process for us. Instead of giving interviews, we meet up with colleagues in the squares and the courier shops, we talk, we get to know each other, we inform, we listen. We want to distribute our newspaper in workplaces. We want the strike to be discussed on the streets, to “knead the dough”, so that everyone can play their part , for the reason behind the strike to be spread and enriched, for the whole society to know that couriers, distributors and outdoor office workers are on strike and claim the obvious. During this time we considered it right to call a 24-hour strike. We hereby attach the reasons that led us to this decision: 

1. The “pandemic” of anti-labor measures is cured by class struggles

The state of emergency that was imposed, in addition to the restriction of basic constitutional rights, brought a series of anti-labor measures with the successive Αcts of Legislative content, that aim for further deregulation of labor relations. The 8-hour a day  5-days a week schedule with indefinite contracts has been greatly deregulated, the threat of unemployment is growing and the intensification of labor tends to become normality. At the same time, the length and breadth of responsibility of the Labor Inspection Body (SEPE) has been weakened, leaving employers impunity to thrive. It is crystal clear that the worldwide head-on attack continues unabated in these times of emergency in order to reduce resistance. We as workers have decided to retaliate.

2. No one is expendable

During the quarantine, we, the “heroes of the coronavirus” were working, as we were working before. Contrary to the government’s effort to make everything look better through the media, in reality both our sector and all sectors continued to work as usual: without the slightest measure of hygiene and safety and without the slightest control by the competent

authorities. While the demand for stamps for heavy and unhealthy employment was increased to maximum due to this emergency situation, what we experienced was the state to turn its back on us and leave the employers free to do whatever they fancied. Big post and delivery companies, enjoying full tolerance from the state, came up with sophisticated ideas to get the work done and maximize their profits. All that mattered was to make deliveries at the lowest possible cost: undeclared overtime, part-time work, work on weekends, recruitment of taxi drivers and taxi companies, minimum recruitments with only basic salary. The only thing the state did, was to include us in a tv -spot and refer to “delivery boys”. Thank you WE ARE NOT CHILDREN-WE ARE NOT MACHINES -but mainly WE ARE NOT CONSUMABLES.

3. Attempt to revoke the circular with protocol number 29613/1754 -July 1, 2019

Colleagues, the moment the present government came to power,  instead of strengthening the control mechanisms and making a serious effort to reduce employer impunity as it should, chose to repeal Circular 29613/1754. The circular, published on July 1, 2019, clarifies that the allowance for use and maintenance of motorcycle does not include gasoline, which has to be paid separately. Without any pretext, without even informing the Assembly or the competent bodies to sit at the table of dialogue. We found out the request for the revocation of this circular and formed a framework and requested a meeting (March 2020), which has not yet taken place under the responsibility of the Ministry of Labor. We have published all the relevant documents on our website. Is this future that the goverment has in store for the “heroes of the coronavirus”?

4. Universal application of law 4611/2019

In the issue that we published after the strike we wrote “Corporate Motorcycle & Personal Protection: we won them on paper -we have to impose them on the market”. Colleagues, the proper maintenance of motorcycles as well as the provision of Personal Protective Equipment (helmet, boots, gloves, motorcycle jacket, protective gloves, trousers with protective gear) will minimize accidents at work. In delivery, many employers continue their arbitrage and do not provide company motorcycles or do not pay the maintenance allowance and current costs (petrol), continue to “forget “stamps, benefits and allowances. We have to sit on their throats in order to make them stop forgetting. 

5.The branch is a boiling cauldron

Colleagues, the dangerous working conditions, the constant and relentless exposure to the weather and the chaos of the streets, the present situation with the coronavirus, the deep devaluation we experience every day, the intensification of labor, brings us to our limits every day. Wherever we went to inform and distribute our newspaper, from Ag. Stefanos to Voula and from Menidi to Gerakas we heard the same voice from different mouths. The voice speaks of injustice, intensification and all kinds of“cuts”. It speaks the need to praise, to stand with dignity, to break our silence, to do something. We hear and see this voice, we are part of it. Enough with the blame, it’s time to roll up our sleeves, not to turn our backs. 

Colleagues, October 8, 2020 is our day. It is the day the wind blows from opposite direction. It is the day we become the locomotive, the engine of world labor that pulls forward. The day we leave our fears behind the , the fatalism, the individualism, the patience in our workplace and together we go down on strike. Shops will close one by one and we are ALL going down on strike ,we will be guarding the strike, we will support the strike.

WE ARE A STORM IN THE EYE OF THE CYCLONE

FROM THE ROAD RACE TO THE ROAD OF THE STRUGGLE

Base Assembly of Motorcycle Drivers

July 2020

19 Σεπτεμβρίου, 2020
INTERNATIONAL STRUGGLES

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