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Anastasia Balezdrova

A court in Athens has postponed for 12 June the proceedings against the 35 members of the PAME Communist trade union who had raided the Ministry of Employment on 30 January. According to their statements, their aim was to meet with Minister Yiannis Vroutsis.

Members of riot police forces took them out and drove them to the police headquarters of Attica. Then, they were charged with disrupting the public order and the fast-track court set the date of the regular trial.

Today, however, the court panel had to postpone the trial because the prosecution witnesses had failed to appear. It became clear later that they had not been summoned in compliance with the law because of a technical problem.

The party fellows of the accused received with mixed feelings the news of the postponement of the trial. Around 1,000 people gathered and blocked the street outside the Evelpidon court complex in solidarity with them. The Communist Party tried to gain maximum political points from the case and the presence of its leader Aleka Papariga in the courtroom was more than indicative.

"We do not accept the quote that justice is blind," she said after the hearing. Then, she headed to the exit, where the party followers had already warmed up with the loud slogans familiar to us from protests and strikes.

They greeted Aleka Papariga and the accused unionists as heroes, heard the speech of one of them who urged them not to give up their fight against the "politics of capital" and then walked away.

As a sign of solidarity with the trade unionists from PAME, the union of public sector workers ADEDY announced a three-hour work stoppage to allow those who wished to attend the meeting in their support to go to the court. The trade union of municipal employees POE-OTA announced a similar initiative too.

Earlier, the Communist Party had organized a meeting in front of the Pedion tou Areos park, during which Aleka Papariga accused the government of trying to "terrorize the people" and described as a "bomb" the scenario to change the law on strikes.

The news that the government intends to withdraw and change the most liberal law on strikes in Europe felt actually like a bombshell in the public domain. The bickering began even before the dialogue on the changes, which will be headed by the Minister of Employment. Among the opponents of the change are the government partners of New Democracy, PASOK and the Democratic Left. It is worth noting that the current law was passed during the first Socialist government in 1982. The power it gave the union leaderships had cost many failures, even in insignificant attempts at reforms. Something that can be seen especially clearly in the current tragic economic situation of Greece.

The main thing the Ministry wants to change is the decision-making procedure for holding a strike. According to ministry sources, the goal is to limit the ability of individual trade unions to announce strikes, which are capable of blocking the activity of an entire company.

Another major change is the restoration of the lockout suspended in 1982. It is a legal measure, which allows an employer to terminate the activities of the company and not to allow employees to access it in the case of a strike.

The ministry suggests that the mode of action of trade unions as well as the dismissal procedure for trade union members should be revised as well.

The major unions have opposed the government's intentions and are currently preparing themselves for the upcoming protests within the general strike, which they have announced for 20 February.