Image via PAME
The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) reports that on the weekend of November 9-10th, the National Conference of the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) took place in Athens:
Thousands of trade unionists from all sectors and workplaces from every corner of Greece conveyed the vivid and militant experience of the organization of the struggle, of the efforts to strengthen the class orientation of the workers’ movement, of the confrontation with capital and its parties, with the policy of the EU.
594 trade union organizations from the private and public sectors, as well as delegates from a number of trade union organizations from all over the world took part in the conference.
The work was concluded with the election of the new PAME Secretariat, consisting of trade unionists from all sectors of the private and public sector, while the delegates decided to escalate the action of the trade unions for the success of the nationwide strike on 20 November, under the slogan “Give money for wages, health, education, out of the slaughterhouses of war”.
The congress has released two major documents / statements related to the situation of Greek workers and its strategy and tactics going forward.
Full Document: Main Document of PAME Congress
Excerpt from the opening:
Our meeting today marks the 25th anniversary of the foundation of PAME, which coincided with the magnificent struggles of our people against the bombing of Yugoslavia.
25 years ago the thousands of militants who founded PAME rejected the line of social partnership, of submission to the directions of the EU and the governments to promote the cheap and flexible worker.
We rejected the criterion of the “competitiveness of corporations” promoted in the labour trade union movement by the bourgeois parties, the EU, the ETUC, their forces in the trade union movement, by the leaderships of GSEE – ADEDY. We rejected the logic that labour is a cost. It is not a cost, it is the main productive force. The black front of the government, employers and sold out labour leaders at first mocked PAME, slandered it.
We kept the principles of the class struggle that is the driving force of history, the goal of the abolition of the exploitation of man by man, not only in the statutes of our Unions, but in the orientation of our action. Against the line of ” ‘class cooperation’, ‘social cohesion” of the government-employer controled trade unions that leads to compromise with capitalist exploitation and the power of the capitalists.
These are the elements that strengthened PAME and made the class pole in the trade union movement recognised by the whole working class and broader popular strata.
PAME means power. Throughout the years, the trade unions, the Rergional Trade Union’ Centres and the Federations that form it have always been in the front line in defending the interests of the working class against the all-out attack of capital. It is a living expression of the militant processes taking place within the trade union movement in our country.
The creation of PAME was a mature necessity. It coordinated the steps of all those who raise their heads. We took the lead in organising solidarity. We contributed to the change of correlations in the trade union movement in the private and public sector. PAME has been a truly militant way out and a hope for those workers who cannot come to terms with the bad situation of the trade union movement for which the majorities of the administration of the GSEE and ADEDY are mainly responsible.
The participation of dozens of trade unionists who are here for the first time, bringing their experience and their own opinions, is particularly important. We have common concerns regarding the bad situation that unfortunately still exists in many Federations and Regional Union Centres, in many primary unions, and which is an obstacle for workers to organise themselves, to trust the power of the collective struggle.
Our meeting is a militant station and a starting point in the course of the trade union movement in our country. Station for the exchange and assimilation of the struggle experience, the discussion for the strengthening of the struggles of all workers from all sectors in the private and public sector, the joint action and alliance with self-employed and working farmers, the youth.
We welcome our allies in the struggle, the farmers from the Panhellenic Committee of Blockades, the Federation of Craftsmen’s Associations of Athens, the representatives of the Student Associations, the Associations of Apprenticeship and Vocational Training, the Federation of Women of Greece.
We particularly welcome the young men and women who are taking up tasks in the movement, leading the way in organising their colleagues. We welcome the veterans of the work who continue and carve the path of struggle and dignity for the younger ones. We also welcome the dozens of migrant workers who are among us in the trade union delegations and are putting into practice the slogan “Greek and foreign workers united”.
We would like to welcome and thank the trade union delegations from all over the world for their presence at our meeting. We would like to thank the WFTU delegation that is here, led by the President of the WFTU, Mike Mzwandile Makwayiba, from South Africa. From Cyprus the Secretary General Pampis Kiritsis and from Italy the Head of the European Office Pierpaolo Leonardi. We are delighted that they are with us today and we pledge once again that we will do everything in our power to strengthen internationalist solidarity. There is no other way than the common struggle of peoples against capitalist exploitation and imperialist war.
We want to welcome and thank the delegations of trade unions from all over the world for their presence at our congress. We are happy that they are with us today and we pledge once again that we will do everything in our power to strengthen internationalist solidarity. There is no other way than the common struggle of the peoples against capitalist exploitation and imperialist war.
In this year’s PAME Congress there are more trade union organisations than in the previous one: 17 Federations, 22 Regional Union’ Centres, 553 unions , many of them young and hundreds of women colleagues elected to the Boards . The increased participation fills us with responsibility and obligation to do our best to meet the task of leading action to take the trade union movement to the counter-attack, for the life we deserve on the path of subversion.
We are preparing our own counterattack against the jungle regime in the workplaces that deepens exploitation.We will not accept to pay their crisis again, we will not become meat in their cannons.
The main objective of the national congress is, in the face of the war that is escalating and threatening lives, in the face of the new economic crisis or anaemic development, to define as broadly and solidly as possible our own line of struggle in defence of the life of the people, to set our own dilemma “Development for whom?”.
Not only not to compromise, but also to demand our contemporary needs.We are discussing the experience of our struggles with an eye on tomorrow, on how to gain a united footing so that the trade unions, the trade union movement can go on the counterattack.
Which means very concretely to go forward in order to develop a big and strong movement, with the workers’ unions, the militant organisations in the workplaces and the sectors, the Associations and Unions of the self-employed professionals, the farmers, the Students’ Associations against the imperialist war.
Excerpt from the opening:
There are few times when the title of an introduction so vividly describes what happened in a live debate. So yes, what we experienced for two days was the living militant expression of the rise of class struggles.
To those who seek saviours and messiahs, to those who slander the class struggles, we say it clearly: The workers’ – people’s opposition is here. We will take on the full and win against the anti-worker policy that is here and is an expression of the strategy of the business groups for cheap, very cheap work, without collective bargaining agreements, working hours made of rubber, social security systems completely commercialized, sacrifices without end for the support of business profits.
Besides, its expression is also the imperialist war, which for the peoples is death, genocide, countless disasters, for them it is a way out to the over-accumulated capital, with active participation and sharing of the booty.
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