The brutal beating of Carmen M., a worker of a café at Stadiou St., by henchmen outside her home, on March 27th late in the evening , cause she “dared” to claim compensation for her dismissal from her employer, inevitably brings to our mind the”Case of Kouneva“. The attack was published by the “Union of Waiters, Cooks and all workers in the Food industry”, when its members, during their presence at the café in order to defend their colleague, came up against the gang behavior of the owner of the branch, showing off his gun to the representatives of the union.
The response to this additional incident of bosses’ gang behavior was immediate. The morning of March 26th dozens of Carmen’s colleagues blocked off the shopVia Vai at Syntagma and other nearby chain stores, at Panepistimiou Av. and Mpenaki st. A banner was placed at Syntagma branch, informative posters were put on the walls around the place and hundreds of texts were given to the passing people.
The action was welcomed by most passing people while her boss started to mumble unintelligibly and trying to out talk. He tried to prove that the members of the union are lying, saying that he did nothing of what was described in the text, while trying ceaselessly to express his view of the fact. The protesters responded with slogans against the bosses, urging other workers to stand with their struggle, while there were moments of “dialogue” between the employer and his lawyer.
That evening the employer, named Stelios Karezos, contacted the union asking to pay the outstanding debts to Carmen, saying it was all a misunderstanding. As announced by the Waiters’ and Cooks’ Base Trade Union after the open assembly that was held on Sunday afternoon at Polytechneio, “there are no misunderstandings or isolated incidents. The unpaid working hours, “forgotten” revenue stamps, non-payment of premiums and benefits, sackings, wages decreases, informal employment is a reality we experience daily in the labor galleys. Anyone who dares to speak about them faces either the terrorism of the bosses, involving weapons, threats, henchmen, sulfuric acid and on the other or the terrorism of unemployment. All these are happening at a time when the state, now with the excuse of the crisis, redefines the terms of labor to the benefit of the bosses, institutionalizing the abolition of the vested interests of the working class and paving the way for the intensification of exploitation and oppression. On Monday morning, the “Cooks’ and Waiters’ Base Trade Union” occupied the offices of the Panhellenic Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades in Stadiou St. and visit the cafeteria at Syntagma, where the employer signed a document that will pay all legal to Carmen.
On March 30th, the “Cooks’ and Waiters’ Base Trade Union” with tens of others in solidarity marched in the center of Athens along with primary trade unions against the new economic measures. Slogans against employers’ terrorism were heard while the sheet metal that had been set to protect the windows of the branch could not stop the fury of the demonstrators.
