The local teacher unions (ELME) across the country voted yesterday, with the vast majority of unions being in favor of striking. The union federation OLME scrutinized ADEDY for not supporting their strike which begins on Friday (the first day of exams) and “assisting the government to suppress” the teaching sector.
The president of OLME Nikos Papachristos stated that “the results were overwhelmingly in favor of strike action”; of the 20 teacher unions in Attica only two were against the strike. The situation in other regions in the country is similar. Most unions voted in favor of the strike and will want to send a message of unity and determination to the government. The OLME leadership will be meeting the secretary of New Democracy Michalis Kefalogiannis later in the day.
While most ELME meetings yesterday went smooth, in Chios there was tension when a municipal police officer attempted to serve the mobilization orders at the local teacher union during the meeting. The police officer claimed he couldn’t find the school at their homes in order to serve them their mobilization orders. The meeting was interrupted and the officer was asked to leave.
On Wednesday morning the parliamentary representative of New Democracy Sofia Voultepsi stated on Mega Channel that OLME will fail and that its leadership must be deposed. SYRIZA MP Dimitris Stratoulis responded that the government is using dictatorial methods, while the KKE parliamentary representative Nikos Karathanasopoulos stressed that a struggle is the only answer.
