Up in the air are the approximately 100 employees of FIERATEX, the large textile company that was established in 1988 with a production plant in New Santa Kilkis.
According to typosthess.gr, last week the management submitted proposals to the employees for availability of the staff employed in production from June 5 to 30 as well as for the departure of old (15 years and older) employees with half compensation. The reason for the proposal is the lack of orders from abroad.
The Workers’ Union on Friday, May 31 went on a 4-hour strike, stating in a related statement that they are proceeding with this mobilization “as a minimum response to ensure our jobs against the employer’s plan to force us into voluntary departures, making us available , hitting our finances and labor rights for full-wage work.”
According to what the president of their Union, Nikolaos Karipidis, said in a speech to Nautemboriki, the workers do not agree on the measure of availability – which of course the company can implement unilaterally – and they express fear both for their immediate livelihood, as availability means half the daily wage and half the wage for each employee, and for the company’s shutdown.
The workers also argue that in consultation with management first the company did not exclude the repetition of this measure (availability) for the next month as well.
Furthermore, the management of Fieratex, according to Mr. Karipidis, put on the carpet proposal to leave with half compensation for those employees who have completed 15 years of work in the company or moreas it may do under existing law, and this proposal was accepted by more than 20 of the approximately 100 workers. A percentage of the order of 40% of the company’s staff falls under this seniority criterion, always according to their Union.
It is worth mentioning that the company does not owe wages to the employees, as they themselves state, however, it has come before shift work this January for a fortnight and the reason given by the management for the availability for a certain period is the lack of orders from abroad in the context of the general downward trend of the industry pan-European, in order to give it time credit to secure new orders.
A relevant announcement about this development was issued by KO of Industry of Central Macedonia of the KKE, reporting
“After the closure of “Sonoco Hellas” in the Prefecture of Kilkis, the employees of “FIERATEX” dyeing and weaving mills they are the latest victims of the much-vaunted capitalist development, political stability and free European markets preached by the ND government. The unacceptable decision of the employer to lay off dozens of workers, leaving entire families with half an income in conditions of unbearable precision, is the result of the miserable anti-labor legislative framework that has been formed in recent years by the ND – SYRIZA – PASOK governments and those who participated to those like the executives of the New Left, Velopoulos, Konstantopoulou.
All these laws that untie the hands of the employer to be able to impose whatever is convenient for him to ensure his profitable activity, are Directives and directions native to the EU. The status of availability, the possibility for unilateral actions by the on the employer’s side, the so-called shift work, cut leaves, contract suspensions, even mass dismissals before becoming laws in the Greek Parliament had previously been discussed, decided, voted on and implemented in the European Parliament and in other European states. This is the “European acquis” that sucks us!
Do not let the unacceptable methods of the employer of “FIERATEX” pass. This is a company whose employees in the period 2015-23 produced significant wealth with 9-year work cycles of over 220 million euros and profits before interest, taxes and depreciation exceeding 6 million euros. With this money, the employer covers the operating costs, buys new machinery, makes depreciation, repays loans and other obligations for so many years. And while the workers have for so many years kept the business running, the employer today has been known to choose to cancel customers, refuse orders, and shut down brand new machinery bought with the profits the workers made. It is confirmed that on the one hand the workers with their work keep the factories open and on the other the pursuit of profit and the free movement of capital of the EU lead them to obsolescence and closure.
It is a common phenomenon in the textile industry in recent decades, a series of entrepreneurs who made fortunes from the labor and work of the workers, collected profits, raised capital and when they later smelled countries with cheaper labor or other industries with a higher profit margin, either they packed up the machines and left, or they closed the factories throwing thousands of workers into unemployment. The history is known from the time of Lanaras until recently the company “ILIOS” in Thessaloniki and the spinning mills “BARVARESOS” in Naoussa. It is characteristic that the funds collected from the operation of these factories were directed in all 3 cases to the real estate market and are invested in the profitable Real Estate industry.
Despite the opening and closing of factories, depending on the profits and appetites of the various investors, today in Greece there are huge possibilities with the experienced and qualified workforce, with the quality raw materials and the level of science, which could determine the production based not on the profits of the few, but on the needs of the people. In order for this to be done, the capitalists must get out of the way and the factories must pass into the hands of the real producers, the working class, and become social property. To operate under a national, scientific plan based on the real needs of society and the modern rights of workers. Only in this way could the factories that are currently idle be able to start again, but this time to serve society itself, the people of our country and not the insatiable profits of the capitalists. The KKE devotes all its energies to this case.
Opposite this EU is the Europe of workers who are standing up and fighting for their rights! In the European elections, every worker who sees on the one hand the profits of the capitalists steadily increasing and his salary ending before the end of the month, he must send a pan-European message with a strong KKE. The anger and dissatisfaction with the EU monopolies to become momentum for new struggles in Greece and Europe”.
The subject is also mentioned the N.E. of PASOK Kilkis to note that “after the suspension of the SONOCO factory, the closure of which left hundreds of workers on the street, another historic factory in our prefecture, which has been operating since 1988 in Panteleimonas, is headed for closure and for the authorities, another Sunday dawned .
More specifically, FIERATEX is moving in the same direction, since this January for a fortnight the management made the employees available for a certain period of time.
And after it started its operation and none of the authorities were seriously involved in solving the problems, in order to ensure the jobs of the employees, it (FIERATEX) comes back and with a new announcement declares that the company’s intention is to put the its employees – except the staff in the offices – on availability for almost a month, from June 5 to June 30.
This move is interpreted by the workers as a threat to their immediate livelihood and as a plan to force voluntary departures.
Source: www.diaforetiko.gr
