 |
| PAME Secretariat's member Giorgos Perros (left) shows the id card of the undercover police agent who is next to him. |
What does an undercover police officer do in a trade union center's congress? Seems that the Greek government decided to take us to previous decades, when police agents were assigned to monitor and record the proceedings within the trade union movement.
According to a report published by 902 portal, members of the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) in Thessaloniki detected the presence of an undercover police officer at the beginning session of the 33rd Congress of the local Trade Union Centre.
The incident took place on Thursday evening and was immediately reported to the media.
The incident took place on Thursday evening and was immediately reported to the media.
The presence of the undercover police officer was denounced by Leonidas Stoltidis on behalf of "Labor Unity", while the member of the Executive Secretariat of PAME Giorgos Perros made a statement to journalists. Having the undercover cop standing next to him, Perros said:
"He is from the trade union bureau of the police. He came here to attend the Congress, sent by his department. You know, a few days ago, the majority of the GSEE administration sent a letter to Ms. Gerovasili (Minister of Public Order and Citizens Protection) asking for the presence of riot police and security in the congresses".
Stating that police agents have no place in the trade unionist movement, Giorgos Perros added: "A real congress will take place only under the presence of workers' unions and the working people themselves. Not under police security, not under the presence of those unionists who brought police here. We want a congress that will be lively, militant, democratic, open to workers".
The undercover police agent admitted his name and identity and was later handed over to his department's head.
On the same day, in the beginning of the Congress, the- affiliated with PAME- forces of "Labor Unity" had exposed the harmful role of the governmental-employer's trade unionism (PASKE, DAKE and EAK) within the working class movement.
Statement by the KKE
The presence of police officers in the Thessaloniki Trade Union Centre Congress was condemned by labour unions, while the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) made the following comment:
"The KKE denounces the new plan of policing and terrorism against the trade unions by the SYRIZA-ANEL government, which was yesterday implemented at the Congress of the the Thessaloniki Trade Union Centre. This is evidenced by the presence of a police chief and an undercover agent, being in ordered service at the Congress, who even monitored the legalization process of the representatives.
The government, among other things, may also provide protection to the GSEE employers' unionists and Trade Centers, in return for protecting its anti-people policy, but it must be aware that the workers have been cancelling such plans for the past 100 years".
