GCTU CONDEMNS PROSECUTION OF UNION ACTIVISTS IN GREECE
In connection with the ongoing trial of trade unionists in Greece, the General Confederation of Trade Unions sent the following message of protest to the Greek Prime Minister Loukas Papademos.
“Mr Prime Minister,
The General Confederation of Trade Unions (GCTU), representing over 50 million working people in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, condemns the prosecution undertaken in your country against members of the Federation of Energy Workers of Greece and its President Nikos Photopulos.
They are accused of staging, last November, a sit-in protest against the sizeable increase in electricity tariffs for the population introduced in Greece as part of austerity measures taken under the pretext of combating the effects of the global financial and economic crisis.
From the standpoint of international law, the action organised by the union is a legitimate expression of public dissatisfaction with the government’s social policy, a legal form of protecting the rights and interests of workers and their families, and, therefore, cannot serve as the basis for the trial of trade unionists.
The GCTU supports the position of the Greek General Confederation of Labour, adds its voice to the protests of the international trade union movement, and calls upon you to take the necessary measures to put an immediate end to the prosecution of the energy workers’ union and its leader.
Yours sincerely,
Vladimir Scherbakov
General Secretary of the CPSU
17 January 2012”
Cc: Mr Yorgos Koutroumanis, Minister of Labour and Social Security
Mr Miltiadis Papaioannou, Minister for Justice, Transparency and Human Rights