May-June 1998 saw the first specific strike by foreign workers in Greece. The dispute, involving Albanian and Romanian agricultural workers, lasted five days and had a positive outcome.
Download article in original language : GR9806176NEL.DOC
May-June 1998 saw the first specific strike by foreign workers in Greece. The dispute, involving Albanian and Romanian agricultural workers, lasted five days and had a positive outcome.
On 29 May 1998, for the first time in Greece, a group of foreign workers began a strike of unlimited duration for higher pay and better working conditions. Participating in the strike, which occurred in a rural area near the city of Volos, were about 200 foreign workers from Albania and Romania, most of whom are employed in tomato and cotton cultivation. The strikers' three demands were:
implementation of the eight-hour working day;
an increase of the daily minimum wage to GRD 5,000, or GRD 4,000 in cases where employers provide meals; and
insurance of the workers concerned by the Organisation for Agricultural Insurance (OGA).
The strikers maintained that in the event that their demands were not met they would go to find work in another area. However, the producers stated that, although they had agreed with the workers on their pay and the labour they would provide, the latter suddenly went on strike, in what the employers essentially viewed as blackmail for more pay. The views of trade unions were typified by the attitude of the Volos Labour Centre. In a statement, the Centre stated, among other points, that illegal labour, regardless of its origins, is racism and deals a decisive blow to the rights of the local labour force. It also stressed that "rather than merely chase foreign workers in the area, the police would do better also to arrest the illegal employers who exploit them for a crust of bread." The Centre stated that it will continue to fight "so that all workers, foreign and Greek, can enjoy their right to work, under precisely the same conditions provided for by the National General Collective Agreement and Greek legislation". On behalf of the Greek General Confederation of Labour (GSEE), its chair stressed that although the minimum wage of GRD 5,000 and insurance coverage demanded by the strikers may be inferior to conditions contained in collective agreements on the sectoral or even the national level, they should gradually be fully harmonised.
After a five-day strike, and valuable assistance both from the president of the local commune and the Volos Labour Centre administration, the strike ended successfully for the workers, who won the right to work eight-hour days. Their final agreement foresees three pay alternatives for a working day of eight hours:
a wage of GRD 4,500 with one meal a day;
a wage of GRD 4,000 with three meals a day; or
a monthly salary to be agreed upon.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (1998), First strike by foreign workers in Greece, article.
