A-Infos (en) Greece, Athene, Solidarity to Konstantina Kuneva

WHEN THEY MESS WITH ONE OF US THEY MESS WITH ALL OF US ---- On the 27th of December we occupied the 
headquarters of ISAP (Athens Piraeus Electric Railway) as a first response to the murderous attack 
against Konstantina Kuneva on the 23-12-2008. Sulphuric acid was thrown at her face as she was 
returning home from work. ---- Konstantina is in the intensive care ward of Evangelismos hospital 
suffering serious sight and respiratory system problems. ---- Who was Konstantina? Why was she 
attacked? ---- Konstantina is one among the hundreds of female immigrant workers who have been 
working for years as cleaners. She is general secretary of the Panattic Union of Cleaners and 
Domestic Personnel. She is a militant union organizer, well known for her stance against various 
bosses. Just last week she had a clash with the employer company “OIKOMET” when she demanded for 
herself and the rest of her colleagues to get paid the whole amount of money of her Christmas 
bonus. She also denounced illegal procedures in payments.

Just a short while ago the same company fired her mother in an act of revenge against her and she 
got herself an unfavourable transfer to Marousi station. There is also a case of a three-part 
meeting in the Labour Inspection Office still pending on the 5-1-2009 concerning a denouncement of 
hers. Situations like these are not at all rare in the field of cleaning and employee lending 
companies. It’s exactly the opposite.

  This is the rule when it comes to cleaning company contractors: delayed contracts, stolen wages, 
stolen overtime payments, differences between contract assets and what the employee actually gets 
paid, selection of almost exclusively immigrant male and female workers with green card status 
(legal residency in Greece ranging from 1 to 5 years – in most cases only 1 year) so they can be 
held in a state of hostageship, social security benefits that are never attributed. All these under 
the support of the public sector and enterprises which are aware, incite and support working 
conditions reminiscent of the middle ages.

OIKOMET in particular, a cleaning company with enterprises all over Greece and owned by Nikitas 
Oikonomakis who is a member of PASOK (Greek Socialist Party), “officially” employs 800 workers – on 
the other hand, workers say that their number is at least twice as much and during the last 3 years 
the turnover amounts to 3000). Illegal procedures on the part of the employer company are on the 
everyday list. To be more specific, employees sign “blank page contracts” and they are never given 
a copy of them. They work 6 hours a day but get paid for 4,5 (including stamp) because in this way 
they appear to be working less than 30 hours per week on paper and the boss is not forced to 
include them in the “higher stamp category”. Employees get terrorized, they get unfavourable 
transfers, they get fired and blackmailed into resigning voluntarily (a female employee was 
threatened by her employer into signing her resignation after being held for 4 hours in a space 
owned by the company). The boss organised a “yellow” (company) union in order to manipulate 
employees while he fires and hires people as he wishes, ruling out any prospect of communication 
inside the workplace or collective action.

What is the connection between OIKOMET and ISAP?

  OIKOMET has been assigned as a contractor the cleaning of ISAP (as well as the cleaning of other 
public sector and corporations) because it can “provide” the cheapest deal that includes the 
highest level of exploitation and devaluation of work. This “regime” of “offer and demand” is based 
on public sector organisations such as ISAP. ISAP is an accomplice in maintaining this regime of 
crude exploitation despite repeated denouncements by the union.

  The murderous attack against our colleague was an act of revenge and had the intent to serve as 
an example.

  The target was not coincidental. Female, immigrant, militant union organizer, mother of an 
underage child, she was the most vulnerable for the bosses.

  The method was not coincidental. It resembles “dark” ages and aims to “brand”, to serve as an 
example and terrorize us.

  The time chosen was not coincidental. The media, the political parties, the Church, businessmen 
and union bosses have been trying to ridicule the social movement that has taken the form of an 
explosion and talk about the cold-blooded murder of 15-year-old Alexandros as the result of a 
bullet getting redirected. In this pretext, the attack on Konstantina is lost in the everyday news.

  This murderous attack on the part of the employers was well-planned.

  Konstantina is one of us. Her struggle for DIGNITY and SOLIDARITY is also our struggle.

  The attack on Konstantina has left a mark in all our hearts. It has left a mark in our memory as 
have done the racist pogroms, the concentration camps for immigrants, the attacks by thugs working 
for the state, the workplace accidents, the people murdered by the state, the working conditions 
that resemble galleys, the purges, the lay-offs and the terror. All these show the long way ahead 
for the social and class struggle.

  Our hearts are filled with sorrow and rage and one sentence comes to our lips:

MURDERERS, YOUR TIME WILL COME

THE EMPLOYERS TERROR SHALL NOT PASS

SOLIDARITY ASSEMBLY
FOR KONSTANTINA KUNEVA

http://katalipsihsap.wordpress.com

======================================

The situation of this woman is serious. She is still at Evaggelismos Hospital in Athens and already 
anarchist and left organisations and groups have started to collect money for her. There were until 
now 2 rallies one in Omonoia Square in central Athens and one outside of the hospital.

Tomorrow there is another one rally at the hospital.
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A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
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