Galery

3

2

1

Anastasia Balezdrova

The occupation of landfills in Athens and Thessaloniki by employees of the cleaning departments of Greek municipalities has already been taking place for twelve days. Containers are overflowing with waste and, according to some estimates, more than 35,000 tons of garbage are in the streets of Athens.

"This is simply unheard of. These people have gone too far. It is not possible to continue living among piles of waste. Not only is their smell unbearable, but mice gather around them every night," said Mrs. Mary for GRReporter on her way to the neighbourhood bakery, walking past a heap of waste that was completely hiding the container "We cannot go outside. Here, I had to take my grandson with me because there was nobody to leave him with, although I am afraid the smell will make him sick."

About two weeks ago, municipal employees blocked the entrance to the Athens’ landfills in Mavrorahi and Fili in protest against the introduction of the payroll system table and the labour reserve in the public sector. Although they do not work, they "named" their protest "occupation" rather than strike and in a skilful way continued to receive their salaries. Moreover, they allowed some trucks to enter and unload waste into the landfills every day thus preventing the government from imposing civil mobilization.
 
At the risk of disease, the government finally decided to take measures. After the failure of the meeting of the Minister of the Interior, Haris Kastanidis, with municipal officials last night, the minister called a press conference today, but apparently he has not considered the power of the trade unionists, who are members of the ruling party.

It all started when they learned that, according to Deputy Minister Paris Koukoulopoulos, the government was preparing to commission the collection of waste to a private company. When the protesters learnt about the press conference, they soon headed to the ministry building and took over the entrance. The Minister changed direction and said that the press conference would be held in a neighbouring building, which houses the General Secretariat for Gender Equality to the Ministry. However, the strikers, who say they are not on strike, took over that building too.

After wandering among various government buildings and with a delay of at least six hours, the Minister managed to inform the media from Parliament at 18:00. He announced that due to the serious threat faced by public health and the failure of negotiations with protesting employees the government had decided not to pay salaries to employees who are on strike, engage in occupations or impede the transport of waste. The measure will apply to those employees who go to work, but do not perform their duties, referring to the strike.

The Ministry of the Interior called on local authorities to commission waste collection and cleaning services of state and municipal facilities to private companies. In the event that employees continue to prevent the trucks from entering and exiting the landfills, the Ministry of the Interior will be able to provide normal operation with police support.

"We are holding a "bomb" that threatens public health. It is not possible that a group of people, because of their own interests, put others at risk of being affected by infectious disease. If the situation does not change, the government will completely change the legal framework that applies to municipal employees," said Haris Kastanidis. In practice, this means the removal of such municipal services and commissioning the cleaning services to private companies forever.

Immediately after the declarations of the Minister, unionists blocked the entrances to the two landfills in Athens, in Mavrorahi and Fili with trucks. They threatened "unforeseen events" in the case that police confronted them, or if "even a private company tries to show up here."

Earlier in Thessaloniki during a meeting of the local union of municipalities, a group of trade unionists attacked the Mayor of Neapoli municipality, Sykies, Simos Daniilidis, who supported the commissioning of waste collection to private companies.