Victory of the Marigold Gloves

“They came after cleaners with very small salaries and families, forgetting we are women, we are mothers, and if you mess with us we can become like the harpies in the ancient Greek legends…. I never thought that a rubber cleaning glove could become such a symbol of struggle, but it has.”

These are the words of Despoina Kostapoulou, quoted in the . She was explaining the victory of nearly 600, mostly middle aged, cleaning women who had been sacked by the previous pro-austerity Greek government in 2013.

The women used to clean the buildings of the government Finance Ministry but became victims to austerity. Now they appear on posters around Athens, brooms in hand, sweeping away the bureaucrats that sacked them.

Last year, the cleaning women showed how determined they were; they barricaded EU and IMF officials into the Finance Ministry who had to flee through the basement, pursued by the women demanding their jobs.

These women showed immense courage also. The riot police treatment of them was brutal (Amnesty International complained about the ‘unnecessary and excessive use of force’ by Greek police) yet they refused to be scared off.

They picketed the Finance Ministry daily in all weathers, camping out on the pavement suffering the summer’s intense heat and the winter’s cold.

Their struggle for reinstatement became a symbol for anti-austerity protesters – the cleaning glove with two fingers in the V for victory gesture. Within days of Syriza coming to power, the women were reinstated.

These women showed that with courage and determination and the election of an anti-austerity government, we can fight back against cuts and job losses.