International dockworkers' strike has given strike actions new momentum
Strikers in Piraeus -- image via PAME on X
Unions in Greece, in both the private and public sectors, are moving towards escalating their struggle in a decisive way with new strikes, fuelled by the momentum of Friday’s massive international dockworkers' strike. They are preparing for a major nationwide general strike on 25 November under the slogan “We do not work for war”. On Friday afternoon, 30 October, while the international wave of strikes was still underway and had reached the American ports, the member unions of the Labour Centre of Athens — which unites hundreds of unions representing hundreds of thousands of workers — held a significant meeting.
30 October demonstrated just how powerful workers can be when they organize and coordinate their struggle. They can create obstacles to war plans, paving the way for overthrowing the politics of profit and exploitation. In 113 ports across 22 countries and five continents, the working class sent a message that echoed from one end of the globe to the other: “We do not work for war!”
In Greece, strikers took their positions at dawn: at the port gates, on the ship ramps and in the factories. Piraeus, the country’s largest port and the sixth largest in Europe, was at the heart of this momentous day. Dockworkers formed picket lines at the COSCO piers and seamen did the same at the ship ramps. Workers also went on strike at other ports, including Rafina, Lavrio, Patras, Igoumenitsa, Elefsina, Rio-Antirrio and Thessaloniki.
As the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) noted: “30 October has earned its place in the history of the international labor movement! It shows the power that workers have when they organise, make collective decisions and coordinate their actions across borders.
The international resonance of today’s events shows just how far a struggle based on common interests and the organized struggle of the working class can go.
Capital, governments, and imperialist alliances have witnessed what they truly fear: the power of the organized people, capable of confronting the politics of war and exploitation.”
Immediately following the international strike in Greece, the unions are holding meetings, general assemblies, and informational campaigns, and are drawing up their strike plans, making it clear that workers will not pay the price for the country’s military involvement for the sake of monopoly profits; they will not accept any sacrifices or any negative impact on their own lives or those of their families.
That is why the focus is on demands for substantial pay rises, for collective bargaining agreements that enshrine workers’ rights, 7-hour working day, 5-day working week, and for health and safety measures in the workplace. For meaningful protection of income against high prices and energy poverty, against the government’s lies and its multifaceted support for bussiness groups. No involvement in imperialist war; workers must not pay the price for it—“no sacrifices for their profits and wars”—is the slogan uniting the unions and taking shape in every workplace as they confront employers.
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