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Bad Day for the Troika
27 January 2012
It was a bad day for the Troika in Greece yesterday. It began when the representatives of the IMF, ECB, and the European Commission, infamous as the Troika, found themselves under siege, when the Communist PAME union surrounded their five-star Hilton Hotel. Fearing they might be lynched, the debt collectors had to call for a police escort. More than 500 unionists held flags and banners saying "Troika Go Home" and "Troika Get Out of Greece," protesting the Troika’s demands for a decrease of the minimum wage, the repeal of 13th and 14th salary ("bonuses" that now make the difference between a family’s survival and destitution), and a number of changes in labor rights, as a precondition for a second euphemistically termed rescue package for Greece. But now it is not just the unions that are refusing to see the workers’ wages cut, but the employers as well. Following a meeting between the GSEE federation of private sector unions and the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), both agreed that the wage cuts demanded by the Troika were off the agenda! The SEV’s Dimitris Daskalopoulos told reporters, "We are all fellow passengers on a sinking ship. Once we realize the fact that we share a common fate, we will be able to move towards a common ground." Daskalopoulos and other employers met with Yiannis Panagopoulos, whose GSEE union is Greece’s largest, and both agreed to keep the minimum wage and salary bonuses off the agenda. Hassilis Korkidis, head of the National Confederation of Greece Commerce, who was also party to the talks, said, "We are on the right track. The social partners agree that the minimum wage is not to blame for the recession and businesses closing down." According to Athens News, Panagopoulos told reporters, "The value of salaried work must not be further undermined. ... The government is implementing the troika [plan] of domestic disinflation and that must be stopped." |