Sacked Greek Worker Brings Solidarity

A highlight of last weekends National Shop Stewards Network annual conference was hearing from sacked Greek worker Harris Sideris, a member of Xekinima (sister party of the Socialist Party in Greece).

He said he did not want to talk about the difficulties facing Greek workers, but rather their determination. Up until recently an employee of Vodafone, Harris was dismissed on 2 June along with fellow organiser Vicky, for their activities trying to gain union recognition for call centre staff in Athens.

The Vodafone bosses have been trying to divide workers, splitting them along the lines of permanent, contracted and outsourced staff. They imposed unattainable personal targets and placed under-25s on lower wages of a shocking €490 a month (less than £350).

In February Harris and others began signing their colleagues up to the National Union of Vodafone Workers. Despite this being deemed illegal, their success led to the setting up of workplace committees.

After being sacked on spurious grounds, public meetings of almost 200 workers voted to take strike action over the sackings, which they did twice.

The union is now in legal discussions with Vodafone, and Vicky and Harris expect to be taking their case to court in the near future.

International pressure

Harris welcomed the exposing of the Vodafone brand internationally, which has piled on the pressure back home in Greece. He made the point that the bosses are organised internationally so workers must be too, linking up struggles across Europe.

On the looming referendum (speaking the day before it took place), Harris paraphrased the famous opening of the Communist Manifesto, saying “A spectre is haunting Europe, the spectre of ‘No’! OXI!”

He addressed the Troika, saying: “We are not just unwilling to pay back the debt, we want paying for the debt! They are not your banks, they are our banks, and we should take them back under workers’ control, that is to say, we should take our lives into our own hands.”

Rushing to catch his return flight to Greece in time to vote, I asked Harris what he would say to UK workers soon to be facing an EU referendum of their own. He said that the EU represents the internationalism of the bosses, of capitalism. It is no friend to European workers.

But the campaign for a ‘no’ vote must be drawn along clearly socialist lines, of opposition to austerity and control of the rich, for true internationalism of the European working class.

Otherwise the debate is open to those on the right, like Ukip, whose only basis for leaving the EU is the financial gain of their own rich chums, while sowing division and racism between workers in Britain.