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The first term of the new academic year in Greek universities is about to be completely lost. The newly admitted students have not yet enrolled in the schools and the lectures have not yet started due to the strike of the administrative staff, which has lasted for three months already. It is in protest against the future cuts of 1,349 colleagues from eight universities and tension is growing.

The staff began to gather at 7:00 am today at the entrance of the campus in the district of Zografou, in front of the building of the Polytechnic School, at the Law School and the Medical School in Athens, their aim being to prevent the resumption of the normal functions of the schools.

A week ago, the leadership of Athens University announced that it was ready to open the schools but now its rector, Theodossis Pelegrinis, argues that, despite the desire of the rector’s office, this is impossible since "all administrative employees are on strike".

He describes the strike as fair, stating that there are no employees in excess. "The actions of the Ministry are insane. According to the plan, there will be one administrative employee per every 100 teachers," said Pelegrinis.

At the same time, the trade union representatives of the strikers are determined to protect their protests to the end. "We are here to protect our strike actions," said early in the morning one of the members of the central body of the federation of university administrative staff.

"Our work is subject to evaluation every day. This is not Mr. Arvanitopoulous and his company’s business," he said, adding that his colleagues are not afraid "of the police or of threats."

For his part, Minister of Education Konstantinos Arvanitopoulous has announced that the institution will file a new complaint in the court, requesting it to declare the strike illegal. "The administrative staff is breaking the law by not complying with court decisions that have already declared their strike illegal," he said.

Meanwhile, after the decision of the administrative staff to continue the strike, members of the rector’s office submitted their resignations to rector Pelegrinis. They protest against the upcoming cuts in the administrative staff and a possible police raid in the university.

According to the Minister, the council of rectors and, in person, the rector are responsible for ruining the term due to their refusal to enforce the law and open the university.

To be continued