Union attack on Greece continues

In the past few days, Greece resembled Iraq minus the suicide bombers and the improvised explosive devices (thank God!). Large swaths of the country remained without power and in complete darkness thanks to the continuing attack of the  striking workers of the DEI power company, represented by the GENOP-DEI union, upon this country’s economic life and public safety (if you wish to take a glimpse of these people check their Web site here).

Hundreds of thousands of small businesses are going to ruin. The elderly, the sick, the less fortunate are suffering immensely. Merchants associations are preparing lawsuits against the attackers, who brazenly accuse DEI’s management of deliberately switching off power in order to discredit their strike. In light of the chaos, the prosecutor has finally intervened and a preliminary investigation of the strike is under way. A serious collateral damage of the strike is that many localities, including many boroughs in Athens, have their water supply interrupted when electricity is cut and water system pumps stop operating. No lights, no water (in ’strong’ Greece of full EU and NATO membership, as our ‘leaders’ boast all the time).

(Last night, during the evening news, GENOP’s secretary Rizos [you can see him here speaking to reporters] revealed the most despicable side of this strike when he was asked for his union’s position on the news that an old, bed-ridden woman on oxygen died when the electricity was cut off and her oxygen apparatus stopped working. Well, Mr. Rizos said with a straight face, there’s a daily bulletin of the times and places of power cuts and the old woman should have familiarized herself with these bulletins !!! Mr. Rizos is due for thanks though. He revealed to a broader audience the callous, irresponsible, and reprehensible attitude of himself and his union toward the country and its population).

GENOP’s enemy action against Greece raises the legitimate question of how these domestic threats should be treated. Indeed, even the prosecutor was moved to unusually suggest in his brief that the strike is not an all-sanctified event immune to any form of remedy and/or sanction when public utility and safety are involved (see the article in Greek). If my memory is correct, this is the first time a public prosecutor makes the connection between the “holy right to strike” and tangible damage to the country, a connection that could lead to real people being prosecuted for damages as they should.

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