Layoffs and heavy-handed policing at the Malamatina plant
6.9.2022
Question for written answer E-002965/2022
to the Commission
Rule 138
Konstantinos Arvanitis (The Left)
A proposal for the rationalisation of the MALAMATINA plant, approved under a court ruling and endorsed by its workers, explicitly safeguarded their jobs, requiring the new owners to maintain the current establishment plan. Despite this, the company has recently dismissed 14 workers, all of them union members (circumventing the framework provisions designed to prevent collective redundancies), and has also announced its intention of closing down its transport operations. In order to defend their rights, the union has called a strike, which was declared lawful by a court ruling. Despite this, a heavy-handed police crackdown resulted in injuries to a number of strikers (including the union leader) and also to members of parliament. These actions are in breach of the rationalisation agreement, competition rules and EU Directives (EU)2019/1023 and 2002/14/EC, along with ILO Convention 98/1949 and Article 27 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Articles 1 and 28 of the Charter were also breached by the violent police crackdown.
In view of this:
- 1.Can the Commission say what action it will take to ensure strict compliance with the rationalisation agreement in line with the rules of fair competition?
- 2.How will it guarantee that workers in Greece are accorded the unimpeded right to strike under Article 93 of Law 4808/2021 without fear of repressive police action?