Teachers are on strike and are calling for a protest rally at Stai Square in Chora

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8: WE’RE GOING ON STRIKE – WE’RE JOINING THE RALLY AT 12:30 P.M. AT KLAUTHMONOS SQUARE

We welcome the massive and dynamic demonstrations by workers and young people who They demand that there be no tolerance and no cover-up of the crime in Tempi. We condemn the repression and the attempt to silence society.

The people cannot once again be made witnesses to a premeditated crime, The «modernized» and «deregulated» rail system promoted by all successive governments ultimately turned out to be death trains…

This is not a time for silence; it is a time to speak out and fight!

On March 8, all teachers, together with our parents and students, can demonstrate our strength and our determination not to remain silent, and to demand, in an organized manner, that those responsible be held accountable without excuses or cover-ups. The mass protests of recent days show us that in the 21st century, we cannot live with a «let’s just go with the flow» attitude. The conservation of resources, the «cost-benefit” logic, privatization, and the commodification of education, health care, and social services cannot be the policy of those in power. The value of human life is non-negotiable and must not be sacrificed on the altar of profit.

Teachers, students, and college students—we have witnessed boilers exploding in schools and claiming lives, lecture halls that are too small to accommodate students, and hundreds of substandard schools that flood and have crumbling plaster. And all this while even the initial seismic safety inspections have not been completed in most schools. On the contrary, there is chronic underfunding of schools—for which the governments are responsible—amounting to 1.8 billion less over the past 11 years.

As citizens, we are experiencing online housing auctions, rising prices for basic necessities, and higher energy bills. We are witnessing the erosion of our right to access healthcare services due to privatization in key structural sectors.

We want technology to serve the safety of citizens in transportation and infrastructure

Workers—the younger generation—have shown that through organized struggle, they can fight back against this policy.

Through our ongoing struggle, we educators are defending the right to education for all children, in a modern, safe, public, and free school, in opposition to the government’s anti-educational plans for a tiered school system that will rely on sponsors, with teachers living in poverty and without permanent, stable employment.

We will not sit idly by and wait for the next tragic accident

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Now is the time to speak out even louder:

No cover-up of the crime at Tempi!

and to fight for:

• Modern, public, and safe public transportation for all people, in opposition to the policy of privatization that treats human life as a cost.
• Hiring of permanent, highly trained staff; implementation of modern safety technologies on all public transportation systems; and immediate fulfillment of the unions’ demands.
• Effective measures to prevent risks and protect the lives and property of the people. Health and safety measures in public infrastructure and workplaces.

Modern and safe school facilities for us and our children.

• Adequate funding for schools from the state budget to meet actual needs, to ensure basic safety and hygiene standards, to conduct inspections of all schools under the state’s responsibility, and to staff the relevant agencies.
• The government, the relevant ministries, and local authorities must assume their responsibilities for all matters related to school operations and safety.
• Seismic safety inspections should be carried out immediately in all schools, under the responsibility of the state.
• Fire safety and electrical/mechanical equipment inspection certificates should be issued for all schools, by a government agency, along with action plans regarding the required health and safety standards for school facilities.

They count profits and losses, and we count human lives.

On March 8, we’re going on strike and taking part in the rallies. We’re continuing our diverse initiatives both inside and outside the classroom. We are present and we are demanding safe transportation, the right to education and healthcare, and a welfare state that serves its citizens. 

We continue to stand united within our Federation and our associations, guided by collective consciousness and action, in the struggle against plans to categorize and devalue schools. We are signing up en masse for the strike and work stoppage called by the D.O.E., O.L.M.E., and P.O.S.E.E.P.E.A., and we are participating in the work stoppages!