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Your call is on hold due to strike activity.

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(Shift) Work street.

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"Shift work is only the start of a system
that wants you to be a slave forever"

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The company we work for
is called Phonemarketing.

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We are working in the inbound part.
There are two sections: inbound and outbound.

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In the inbound section, we
worked for Vodafone and Forthnet.

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We also took care of customer 
information for Alco and Espresso.

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The inbound section also took calls for
11888, ELPA (car service) and others.

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PRS is the other company,
that has taken over the banking section.

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Covering 4 to 5 banks, this 
section takes care of banking delays,

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as well as OTE, Kotsovolos and Cosmote.

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We are constantly wearing the headphones,
sitting in front of the computer,

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the phone is ringing constantly,

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you have to be on call all the time,

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of course there is a lot of swearing,

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when you annoy people during the day,

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when you call people with offers
for mobile phones or landlines,

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at a time when people have no work and
have family problems.

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There is a daily pressure to go over
many applications and contacts.

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Otherwise there is no toilet, and
your break is only for 5 minutes.

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At times we also heard
comments like:

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"You only come here to hang out."

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"Why aren't you filling out applications,
what exactly are you doing here...?"

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Of course there is no extra money
for using a computer or headphones.

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Since we are registered as contract 
employees and not as telephone workers.

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So you get health issues,
like back and neck problems,

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your hands hurt, and often
carpal tunnel syndrome.

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All jobs have their problems, but ours
is also psychologically straining.

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"No to the reduction of wages and hours,
"No to lay-offs"

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For 17 months we had problems
with the payments, many delays.

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The wages were really bad,
not enough to cover basic needs,

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but we accepted these things,
and showed a lot of patience.

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But on March 19th, when we got
paid for the last 3 months,

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we were suddenly notified that
we would have to start shift-work.

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Which means wages of 140 euros,
and one day's work per week.

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No one can survive with one day's work.

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They would have no insurance
and no money to survive.

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We ask for nothing more than dignified lives,
and to be able to support our families.

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When your wage is reduced by 
90% of course you can't survive.

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They were talking about 20%
wage decrease. Where is that?

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Now it is a 90 % decrease.
This is impossible. Where are we?

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So the outgoing calls section
of Phonemarketing

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we have been on strike
for the last 52 days,

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we started on the 22nd of March,

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we are united and optimistic that
we will have a positive outcome,

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we are here on a daily basis, in shifts,

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defending the picket line
from 6 o'clock in the morning,

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until 9 o'clock at night.

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What we demand is really obvious, 
and we will not back down. 

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What we ask it perfectly logical.

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We want our jobs back, our wages,
to be able to live with dignity.

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"Strike"

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52 days

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We have some discussions with the bosses,
without any specific proposals though.

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We will see. We stay here,
we are here everyday.

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We are open to suggestions.
With our union, collectivelly,

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we will reach a correct decision,
representative of all and good for all.

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Some people who knew the union contacted
them, and they supported us from the start.

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We became members,
so that we can act collectivelly,

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and ever since we have daily assemblies,
where we decide altogether how to proceed.

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Perakis Alekos, president for the Attica region
of the Telecommunications and Information Union.

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The attack on these workers
is not at all random.

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Already in our sector they
have started implementing

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every anti-worker legislation 
brought by the 2 Memorandums,

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but also other anti-worker laws
that existed from before.

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It is the moment that the bosses chose
to go against the workers,

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so they can reduce what we call
the price of labour power.

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At this moment, big monopoly 
companies like the OTE company,

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or like OTE-plus or E-Value,
which are subcontracting companies,

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similar to Phonemarketing,

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They have all started imposing similar contracts,
both for younger and older workers. 

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The specific boss here wants
to make use of similar contracts,

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effectively telling the workers
"you should resign and get out of here",

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taking advantage of the new laws,
to bring in new workers,

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at a very low cost for the boss,

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to increase his profits to the maximum.

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As a union we have decided
that we will not allow this,

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that together with the workers
we will not allow this to happen,

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and this is our minimum demand.

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For we know really well that these
companies want workers to be slaves, 

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while they receive huge profits from
the work done by the workers.

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We will not allow this,
and we will not only resist,

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but we will fight with the workers
to demand what belongs to us,

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for we are the ones who
produce this wealth.

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There is a lot of pressure on the
boss because of this struggle,

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because he never expected this,

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and he is forcing workers from the inbound
calls section to work from their homes,

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he is trying to maintain
certain levels of production,

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so that production is not shut down
and he still gets some profit, of course.

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Now, from the 57 people who were
put in the shift work program,

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around 20 workers are against
the strike that we are making.

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We can call them scabs.

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In these 52 days, they have
tried to stop the strike two times.

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The first time they tried
to come inside and work.

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Of course we did not allow this.

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The second time it was more intense 
because they went to the Labour court

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they gave their names, they signed
and asked to be allowed inside,

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saying that it was illegal not
to allow them to go to work.

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Of course we did not accept this.

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They claimed that we were aggressive,
that we swear at them and create tensions.

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Of course none of this ever happened.

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We were colleagues until two months
ago, we have nothing against them.

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We are only demanding
what we think is fair.

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The police was called,
they spoke with our boss.

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The police suggested to the
colleagues to press charges,

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because we were not allowing
them to come inside and work.

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Of course when we asked him if he could
survive with 140 euros per month

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he answered that 
this is not the point.

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So we told him that
he should leave us alone,

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and let us do what we do because
our strike is entirely legal,

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and that he should return to his work.
Then he threatened us, saying

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that he would come back
with the riot police.

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He said, "I will get the riot police and
they will come and stop the strike."

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Of course they did not dare do that.

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So no riot police came, and neither
did our colleagues press charges.

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We demand to be heard,
not from our boss of course,

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but by the Ministry of Labour, and
Mr. Koutroumanis who voted for this law

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whom we had met and you
understand it is not an easy thing

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to meet a minister, but we did
with the help of our union,

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he could not, after all,
have ten ladies every day,

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outside of his ministry
shouting all the time,

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along with their children.

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He was sitting on my left, and
in a very simple way, I asked:

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Can a family with two children
survive with 140 euros a month?

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"It's a disgrace", I said.
He could not look at me.

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For he knows that he was one
of those who voted for this law. 

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Of course every boss takes
advantage of the laws they voted for, 

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this really smart coalition government
with their Troika and their EU.

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Who wanted to join the EU?

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On the 19th of March the shift 
work program was announced, 

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and on the 26th the boss started
implementing it unilaterally. 

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That means that the boss, 
since we refused to sign, 

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using dubious means, he convinced
the non-striking workers to sign it,

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without explaining what
exactly they were signing. 

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He then used these in order to show
their "consent" to this change. 

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Of course their only consent was
that they wanted to keep their jobs. 

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But this was done unilaterally
from the side of the boss. 

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Exactly like that. 

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The workers who signed did not
know what the contract entailed.

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And he showed the signed papers to court
arguing that it was agreed upon. 

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He did not dare to look at me.

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But the colleagues had only signed that
they are present during the discussion.

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They had no idea that this 
paper would be presented in court. 

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But he used this to claim that he 
can impose the change unilaterally. 

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Nonetheless we continue our struggle
and we gain more strength all the time, 

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because we have the solidarity 
of the people who come here, 

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like the pensioners and the
popular assembly of N. Ionia, 

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from this very neighborhood, 

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people are supporting us not only
psychologically but also practically, 

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by collecting money, 
by bringing food.

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It is amazing to see that simple
people come and support, 

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but it is very distressing to see that
someone for whom we worked for years, 

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who of course would not even tell us
good morning, but nevermind that, 

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but we are understood by simple people
who have had similar experiences, 

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like the pensioners who have
seen their pensions reduced, 

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who are thinking "they are trying to do
the same to the younger generation." 

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From the very first moment we have
had the support of our union, SEDIP,

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the sectional union of workers
in the financial sector, 

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00:13:14,979 --> 00:13:16,979
the pan-hellenic union
of workers at Wind company, 

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00:13:17,354 --> 00:13:18,687
the pan-hellenic union
of workers in Vodafone, 

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00:13:18,937 --> 00:13:22,479
the workers' union of 
the Intrakom company, 

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the union of Nokia
and Siemens Networks, 

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the union of the customer
care workers of OTE, 

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the Workers Centre of Athens, 

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the popular assembly of N. Ionia, 
which is here every day, 

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in body and soul, 

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the committee of residents
of the area Perissos, 

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the union committee
in the HOL company, 

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00:13:39,979 --> 00:13:41,521
the assembly of
unemployed of Nea Ionia, 

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00:13:42,021 --> 00:13:44,021
the committee of residents
of the Perissos-Pefkakia area, 

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00:13:44,437 --> 00:13:46,979
the local committee of N. Ionia,
N. Philadelphia and Metamorfosi, 

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the employees' unions of the municipalities
of Kallithea and of Irakleio, 

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00:13:51,062 --> 00:13:53,229
the assembly of 
call centre workers, 

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00:13:53,687 --> 00:13:56,479
the workers of the Metamorfosi municipality, 

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the open assembly of anarchists
of Kerameikos and Metaxourgeio, 

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the open assembly of 
anarchists from Peristeri. 

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00:14:03,687 --> 00:14:05,187
We thank them all
for their support. 

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00:14:05,812 --> 00:14:08,479
I want to add that last week
we created our own strike fund. 

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00:14:09,312 --> 00:14:12,396
Strike Fund

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00:14:17,896 --> 00:14:22,396
Strike 52 days

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00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:44,800
On the 27/05/2012, the workers 
of Phonemarketing were on their 66th 


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day of strike. Resisting the attack of the 
bosses who tried to force them to resign 


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00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:53,200
in order to employ new workers with 
very low wages. By struggling against the boss, 


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the police and the Ministry of Labour, they realized that they can only win through their own struggles 


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and through the class solidarity
of unions and collectives.


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00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:05,800
This solidarity, at the moment when
the Phonemarketing workers are


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00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:10,000
intensifying their struggle, has to be
expressed in a massive and dynamic way. 


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00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:14,200
As they say themselves, without
workers not a single cog turns, 


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not a single phone gets answered. 

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We are not going to be slaves anymore. 

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00:15:23,479 --> 00:15:25,479
Diakoptes, May 2012