"Was it not for the protection of our trade unions, we would have surely died. Our job has nothing to do with being a civil servant. We dislike unions, like ADEDY, which opened their doors to the corrupt political parties and allowed them to destroy the labor movement".

Work is uncertain

On the day we met Vassilis Mpinos, president of the ship-carpenters' union of Attica, he was disappointed, because he couldn't find work that day, even though he had begun searching early in the morning. Ten thousand people look for work every day at the shipbuilding zone of Perama, but less than 3,000 are finally to earn a day's wage.

Every morning workers wander into the Zone looking for a ship coming into the port. When it doesn't come they start grumbling and return to their homes totally idle. Some of them go for a coffee while others avoid doing so because even their last euro is important to them. Sometimes they even go beyond Perama, in case they find work in some other neighbourhood, but things are getting harder everywhere.

Workers don't care much about themselves, but they don't want to deprive their children. After they make sure they have secured the basic goods needed for their survival, they agonize over their children's education. They are aware that a college degree does not ensure work, but they also know that educated people have better opportunities. 

Dangerous job

Working on tankers and freighter ships is dangerous, and many people have died on the job. After every accident, rage erupts and workers go on strike. Unfortunately, these action cannot bring back the dead. According to Vassilis Mpinos: "The safety rules have been created in such a way that nobody can be held accountable. Safety technicians are freelancers and in many cases have to check 40 ships at a time; how is it possible for them to control everything? Can the workers check to see if  safety regulations are enforced? Should they pretend to be the police and the coast guard at the same time? I tell you, this situation completely sucks, it's like you're playing Russian roulette".

It's not only the explosions that kill the workers, but also cancer that can be caused by incombustible materials, such as asbestos, glass wool, pyrite, galvanic and other materials.  "Scientists may say that they have discovered harmless materials, but after a couple of years, those too are going to be proved dangerous. If we get sick at work we are not entitled to compensation, because with 100 work-days per year we only get medical insurance, no money".

The trade unions of Perama, after long and hard fights, have managed to earn good wages which sometimes reach 110 euros as a gross salary and 85.5 net for 7 hours of work, while for three hours overtime they collect 100 more euros. The previous amounts only concern Perama zone and not Eleusis or Skaramagas, where wages are lower.

The workers produce art and profit for their employers, asking only for a permanent job. They are honest and consistent at the same time, always trying to give their all. Their mental condition, however, is fragile, because most of the time they are unemployed. If they weren't 'armed' with their ideology, they wouldn't have the strength or the perseverance to help themselves and those weaker than them. Sooner or later corruption, alcohol, cards or other addictions would ruin them. 

Difficult times for contractors 

There are a lot of contractors still active in Perama zone and not all of them are rich and heartless. Panagiotis Kalkandis, who has been working at the port since he was 14 years old, has worked and risked everything in order to undertake ship repairs. "When I first got into this, the port's wasn't big enough to fit all the ships. But now very few come and they only need small repairs".

Asked about the cause of this situation, he answers: "We're talking about the most expensive port in the Eastern Mediterranean and that is why it is in decline. The unions that are in charge sometimes act as if they want to destroy the Zone and kill the business. Another huge problem is the indescribable bureaucracy. Just consider the fact that 11 papers are necessary for a simple repair, for God's sake".

To the question why there are so many industrial accidents, the contractor answers: "For a welding torch to work in a storeroom the flammable gas must be removed. That is why the shipping chemist comes so often, in order to give us gas free certificates and write his observations in the relevant book. The captains and the crew are obliged to follow his orders by the book. Here, though, rules are circumvented and protocols are not strictly followed, like it happens in other advanced countries".

Panagiotis Kalkandis describes the conditions at the shipbuilding zone in the darkest colors: "Technically, the space is not suitable for shipbuilding. It's something out of a third world country; totally obscure and chaotic. In these mentally and physically tiring conditions, workers need to take care of themselves. They work among sharp sheet metals, so if they fall, that's it. Nobody has bothered to offer these people some hygiene and safety seminars. To be honest, there is only one hour every month for this purpose. As a contractor, I am not immune to all this. On the contrary, if a worker dies on the job, I'm done".

There are objections

During the Occupation, Germans soldiers asked for a special pass and interrogated the workers before they let them work in the shipyards. The postwar governments demanded a social conscience certificate as if there was the possibility that the workers in the rusted holds would intercept the state's secrets and give them to the… Russians. In 1981, all certificates were renounced and replaced by the trade union's identity card. Without it, nobody can work.

Employers can no longer take advantage of workers who are in need and undermine their salaries and insurance rights. At the same time, though, workers who don't want to join the trade union due to ideological or other reasons are not allowed to work. Some of them complain, saying that the trade unions are like churches that only offer a meal to those who watch the liturgy and leave everyone else starve to death.

It's not difficult for someone to understand that the zone of Perama is a place that keeps hurting workers and employers. Workers desperately look for a days wage, but at the same time, they'd rather starve than have their rights trampled on. And employers undertake only small jobs in order to avoid the wild bureaucracy and fighting with the trade unions. The zone has been literally left to die and seems like a rubbish dump full of desperate people and rusted metals.

Shipowners are the only ones who avoid appearing in Perama. They continue assigning the major projects to the cheaper shipyards of the Far East. They don't even bother to make a scrap yard and insist on sending the ships to Asia for melting and then re-buying their own metals as new. This way, the best-situated port of the Mediterranean keeps watching its ships passing by, without any stop for repairing.
TEXT-PHOTOS: GEORGE ZAFEIROPOULOS
SOURCE: www.greecewithin.com

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