12) GREEK WORKERS BATTLE AUSTERITY MEASURES

(The following article is from the March 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Special to PV

Big rallies were held in 67 cities across Greece on February 10, as part of a highly successful general strike, largely at the initiative of PAME, the left-wing labour federation backed by the Greek Communist Party. No planes landed or took off from Athens airport, no ships moved in the ports, and participation by both public and private sector workers was high.

     The strikers are protesting against the policies of the PASOK (Social Democratic) government, which is freezing wages and pensions, increasing the tax burden on workers, raising the retirement age by two years, and non-replacement of retiring public workers. The main motto of the strikers was "We will not pay the capitalist crisis".

     Despite driving rain, thousands of strikers gathered in front of the Greek Parliament in Athens, and marched to the Labor Ministry. They were joined by a big delegation of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), along with banners for the economic immigrants.

     The strike was opposed by the Social Democrat-led trade unions which support the government, using the argument that "it is not Athens to blame for the anti-labor policies, but Brussels"!

     Another strike was called for February 24 with the same demands.

     While the Greek working class has repeatedly held massive strikes and demonstrations against neoliberal government policies in recent years, the country's economy is now in grave crisis.      For leading circles of international capitalism, this crisis is seen in part as an opportunity to impose the right-wing policies which were widely seen as a key factor in the global meltdown which erupted in 2008. The European Commission in Brussels, for example, says the Greek debt is "manageable" - on condition that the PASOK government impose very severe austerity measures, such as reducing pensions and raising the retirement age, much like the International Monetary Fund dictates to developing countries.

     The threat against Greece is that refusal to adopt such policies will mean much higher interest rates on the country's large debt load. Greece faces the prospect of refinancing about $17 billion euros this year alone, placing PASOK squarely against the militant traditions of the Greek populace.

     The situation in other countries is also difficult. Italy, for example, has a public debt to GDP ratio of 120 percent (much higher than Greece), and Japan is close to that level. Spain, Portugal and Ireland also face severe structural economic problems, and a similar threat of anti-working class policies dictated by the bigger capitalist powers of the European Union.

     All this uncertainty has recently buffeted the euro currency. The possibility of Greece or one of the other stricken countries being unable to pay its debts - and either needing an EU bailout or having to abandon the euro - has been called "the biggest threat" to the single currency. In reality, such a development would weaken the relative strength of the continent's major imperialist powers, especially Germany and France.

     Here at home, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has made public statements about the "limits of stimulus," an unsubtle hint that despite massive unemployment levels, government spending will be slashed in the Tory budget during the first week of March.

     According to pro-corporate media commentators, markets are "signalling" that the government spending which helped mitigate the impact of the crisis must end in order to "restore investor confidence."

     But such threats seem to be having little effect in Greece, where the Feb. 10 strike was quickly followed by walkouts of customs officials and Finance Ministry employees protesting cuts to their supplementary income payments. Lasting several days, the action by the customs officials has caused serious disruptions to fuel supplies and other important imports.