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Report on the Study Visit to Greece

| Page 40

Both structures work together parallel to each other and

have completely separate congress’ to vote on leaders

and the direction of the movement

When they do meet its academics who deliberate on

their behalf to go to the government to negotiate

and every year the situation of the Greek economy is

brought up(usually September time) The subsequent

papers show the situation, purpose and direction of the

trade unions.

Trade unions have internal conflicts, with different

opinions. The finical crisis in Greece has caused splits in

the trade unions.

Climate change

Dr Christin has been in the department of environment

and pollution since 1990. She organises seminars and

courses for trade unionists one of them being about the

protection of environment and occupational health and

safety another.

Legislation

The environment is over regulated due to EU directives

and Greece’s own regulations thought the inspections

of the legislation are weak. There are fines but not a lot

happens after them with regards to forcing compliance.

Through the crisis though the environment has not

been a priority so the amount of inspections has

decreased.

Environmental legislation is welcome and people are

sensitive to the issues (sometimes overly so) but in

some cases groups try to divert issues in the name

of the environment in order to push through their

own agenda. For example there is a gold mine in

Northern Greece – the new government promised

the inhabitants of the area that the exploitation of the

workers would stop. A Canadian mining company

purchased the mine and indeed did stop the

exploitation but now 3000 people are unemployed

leading to a social disaster not an environmental one!!!

Young People

Christina believed that the trade union movement isn’t

really responding to the needs of the young people and

still remains traditional in their approach and ideas. They

don’t deny that it is an issue; they don’t do much about

it. There is no strategy to engage with young people

(some individual unions to – but not in general). The

traditional way of holding meetings does not fit into the

way of living now where people mainly communicate

online via social media or text message. This should not

replace face to face meetings though as they have a

greater effect.

This though is a worldwide issue and reflected the

conversation Sarah had with two young students on the

metro when we arrived on the Friday. They basically said

if your parents are trade unionists then you likely will be

too otherwise trade unions do not seem interested in

young people’s needs just to make political gains.

Other points noted on the trip

Suicide rates have shot up in Greece since the crisis and

projects such as Solidarity and Costas are designed to

stop people from feeling isolated and lonely. For most

attendees the only conversation they have on a day to

day basis will be at the projects.

It is not enough just to feed the homeless, refugees

or low paid workers struggling to survive. They need

more such as homes and communities which will help

redevelop healthy mind sets too.

Trade unions in Greece are not political; they do not

affiliate to any political party or have links to them like

we do. They do have positions on what is happening

but no influence. For example the trade unions said the

referendum was a mistake as it would divide people. It

was carried out outside of the law in 5 days

Greece have had 6 years of recession which other than

after world war one has not happened!

Leadership reflects the quality of the people as they

vote them in. but the media has diminished the

Photo courtesy of Bindu Paul

and Sarah Woolley