Greece: Sellout of teachers’ strike paves way for massive government attacks

On October 30, the unions ordered back to work high school and primary school teachers who started their six-week-long strike on September 18, disrupting the start of the new academic year. As part of winding down the campaign, two one-day strikes were held on November 3 and 9, and general meetings are to be held to “assess” the next stage.

Dimitris Bratis, the leader of the Greek Primary Teachers Federation (DOE), said the teachers had returned to work “for the sake of the children, and not because their demands had been met.” He openly sympathised with the government’s claim that increasing the proportion of the state budget spent on education would create economic difficulties. Representatives of the Teachers’ Federation have met with Deputy National Education and Religious Affairs Minister Georgos Kalos to present their proposals as to how the lost teaching hours will best be replaced.

The teachers are demanding a 45 percent pay increase and a net annual salary of €16,800 (US$21,600) for new entrants to the profession. Greek teachers are among the lowest paid in Europe, with an annual starting salary of €12,555 (U$16,160) compared with €37,350 in Germany, €28,819 in the UK and about €17,500 in Italy and France. Other demands include a reduction in class sizes and the maintenance of free public education. There is widespread opposition to chronic under-investment in schools in Greece, which only allocates 4 percent of GDP to education—the lowest proportion in the European Union. Promises by Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis’s New Democracy administration to increase this to 5 percent have not been fulfilled.

More
http://wsws.org/articles/2006/nov2006/gree-n13.shtml