A few weeks ago, we were organizing for this year’s 8th of March, propagating a feminist strike on International Women’s Day, with the actual prospect being a decent demonstration against sexism, supported mostly by young women and the activists of the organized left-wing forces.
The train crash in Tempi, the head-on collision between two trains resulting in 57 officially confirmed deaths until now, changed everything.
The 8th of March transformed into a sensational massive mobilization, where the chants of the women’s movement were smoothly combined with the general expression of working-class anger against privatizations and against the prevalence of profit-making as the ultimate determinant in the organization of our public lives and society.
The 8th of March was an actual mass strike. The national union bureaucracy which controls the General Confederation of the Private Sector Workers (GSEE) deserted the battle, but this wasn’t enough to withhold the stream of anger. The strike call by the rail-workers unions was joined by the relatively more radical General Confederation of Public Sector Workers, which declared a strike in the public sector, including important fields like Education and Healthcare. Workers’ Centers [locally based union federations that unite workers on a city level] entered the field, declaring strikes in order to enable the private sector workers who obviously wanted to join the protest. These combined moves provided the 8th of March (8M) action with a crucial bulk of working-class forces.
8M was an impressive outburst of youth anger in the streets. At this moment, many dozens of schools are occupied all over the country, raising the slogan “Our lives matter!”. The demonstrations in big cities (Athens, Thessaloniki, Patra, etc.) were massive, while its worth noting that rallies were organized in over 60 towns all over Greece. In smaller towns, the rallies of 8M were the biggest in size since the major struggles of 2010-13.
Women’s organizations and collectives proudly welcomed this “broadening” of the mobilization for this year’s 8M. And vice-versa, the chants of the women’s movement enjoyed widespread support among the broader masses who took the streets.
The size of the protest “sums up” many factors at play. For example, other crucial ongoing struggles, like the durable struggle of art workers who have been occupying major public theatres and Art Schools all over the country. Or the “messages” from intense working-class struggles in France, Britain, Portugal, Spain etc. As it turns out, these “messages” have an eager audience among the working class and the youth in Greece.
This is probably a turning point. It emerged in the immediate electoral period, and it threatens (as we will discuss later on) to dynamite the plans of the systemic forces. It is obvious that at the roots of this wave lays the mass anger for the train crash at Tempi.
Accident?
On this fateful night at Tempi, a passengers’ night-train from Athens to Thessaloniki collided with a cargo train that moved from Thessaloniki to Athens. The two trains were running on the same railway line, heading towards each other for some time, and nothing warned them about the inevitable collision. The train-drivers of both trains and a big number of people boarded on the passenger train died. Many victims were young boys and girls who were returning to the University of Thessaloniki after visiting their hometowns for the Carnival festivities.
This collision is inconceivable, given the technology at our disposal in the 21stCentury. Yet all systems of tele-command, and even the signal lights, were out of function. This is not a question of some general technological backwardness of the Greek State. A few months ago, Greek society was shocked to learn that the Mitsotakis government had the ability to surveil and track the communications and moves of thousands of the prime minister’s enemies (and some of his “friends”), using the most sophisticated surveillance and spyware systems that the Israeli Secret Services can provide. It is this government which argues today that there were… technical difficulties in tracking two trains on a collision course and warning the drivers for the imminent threat!
But in reality, such a collision is inconceivable even in terms of 20th century technology. Even in the era of telegraph, rail-workers have developed the know-how to keep the lines safe, communicating with each other from station to station. But this know-how was undermined—along with stable and full-time employment in the rails- by the flexibilization of industrial relations. The government’s last line of defense was that the tragic crush was a result of a “human error”. But on the fateful night, in the big station of Larisa (in the center of Greece), there was a single (!) station master working. He was a “mobile” worker, who had received a brief training for a few months before he was transferred to Larisa to face crucial responsibilities. According to older unionized rail-workers, he wouldn’t be able to handle a crisis even in a smaller station, much less in Larissa, with its strategic positioning and heavy workload. The revelation that the specific train master took this job through the right-wing party’s networks of clientelism, has some sort of political value. But -rightly so—the rail-workers unions and the broad public chose to see the entire forest instead of focusing on a single tree: No, the responsibility for the lives of hundreds of people cannot be left on the shoulders of one unskilled, isolated and frequently exhausted worker, whoever they might be!
The narratives of “human error” or bad luck were instantly rejected by the public, which aimed correctly.
Privatization kills
Rails in Greece used to be operated by the public Organization of Railroads in Greece (OSE). At the beginning of the century, on the eve of the financial crisis, OSE employed 20.000 rail-workers in permanent, full-time contracts. During the 1970’s and 80’s their number was double. The rail-workers unions were strong and coordinated under the National Rail-workers Federation, forming an important part of the backbone of the working-class movement that emerged after the fall of the military dictatorship (1974).
For decades, successive Greek governments systematically failed to meet their financial obligations to OSE, which was forced to cover the operating costs, the wages, as well as the cost of modernization investments, through borrowing money. OSE’s accumulated debts (which according to the “Troika” of EU-ECB-IMF was over 10 billion euros in 2011-12) became the main argument to push for the privatization. This debate was full of hypocrisy: Numbers were inflated to make the case for privatization easier. Such numbers fail to acknowledge the value of the work done in the rails over the decades. They also don’t take into account the money owed to OSE by the State Budget, also over the decades.
But the rail-workers were proven a resilient obstacle to privatization by the Right-wing. The direct assistance of social liberalism was needed in this field. The first act of the drama was played under PASOK’s rule, from 1996 until 2003, when the social democrats ceded power back to the right-wing party. The recipe was typical: Breaking the Organization in smaller (easier to sell) “enterprises”, degrading the work done in the rails, shrinking the number of full-time workers on permanent contracts. After the break-up of the Organization, many enterprises were founded: ERGOSE was responsible for the costly investments in infrastructure, and as such was destined to remain in the public sector. TRAINOSE was given the commercial exploitation of passenger and cargo transport. GAIOSE took up the management and the exploitation of the (large) real estate assets of OSE. And a few more even smaller “enterprises” that no one remembers they once existed anymore.
This policy was carried forward (it has to be said—with enthusiasm) by New Democracy, during the reign of prime minister Konstantinos Karamanlis (Junior). By 2007, the workforce in the railways was dramatically reduced.
But the final act of the drama, selling TRAINOSE to the Italian FerroviedelloStatoItaliano (FDSI), was played in 2017 and signed by SYRIZA. It is true that the “Troika” put important pressure for this deal to happen, but it is also true that SYRIZA didn’t actually resist it. Alexis Tsipras presented the deal as “a step towards growth”, talking about “a very important investment and I would say the beginning of a series of very serious Italian investments in Greece”. That was a rather elegant description: FDSI took TRAINOSE and the exploitation rights for all railway transport in Greece for 45 million euros!
It was agreed that the full content of the Contract would be secret, and it was kept secret, because it is an absolute outrage. The annual turnover of TRAINOSE was and is over 120 million euros, while the Greek State was committed to subsidize FDSI with 50 million euros each year!
Investigative journalism focused in other, underrated aspects of the agreement. With the acquisition of TRAINOSE and its rebranding as Hellenic Trains, FDSI acquired privileged access to a vast area formerly owned by OSE, close to the port of Piraeus, where the Organization’s depots and warehouses used to be. This area is destined to host the construction of a gargantuan Logistics Center in the service of Cosco, the Chinese corporation that has already bought the Port of Piraeus. The prospect of a co-operation between the totally opaque Cosco and FDSI (which can hardly be considered a “white dove”in the field of entrepreneurship…) didn’t raise concerns to anyone -either in Greece or in the EU. Although it probably should…
In order to obtain strategic control over OSE, FDSI promised a big investment plan for the transition to high-speed trains. It didn’t materialize. They brought some trains that were previously withdrawn from European railways as unsafe. They were refurbished by the company and presented as the “White Arrows”, but in the end their actual speed was similar to the… old trains of OSE.
Meanwhile, the government of Mitsotakis, after coming to power in 2019, made a “minor” adjustment to the Contract with FDSI: the Greek State, which remains in charge of central infrastructure, would not finance the completion of the project for electronic tele-command of trains, demanded by European standards and EU directives. While FDSI, for its part, was relieved of the obligation to invest in lines and in trains. On the fateful night at Tempi, the total inability to be aware of the trains’ route to collision was a result of this exchange.
It is worth noting that the project for train tele-command was initially assigned to a consortium of the big Greek construction company AKTOR with the French company Allstrom. In accordance with the usual norm in such “joint ventures” of private and public sector, and despite the awareness of the dangers for passengers, this consortium delayed the delivery of the project, in pursuit of ever larger rewards. The delay lasted over a decade until we eventually reached the aforementioned exchange.
All the while, the number of rail-workers was shrunk to the extreme. Today, there are only 850 full-time, permanent employees working in the rails all over Greece! The obvious gaps are “filled” with outsourcing and “seasonal” employment schemes. That is why on the fateful night, on the station of Larisa, there was a single, inexperienced, untrained, exhausted station master.
The public verdict is right: The deceased at Tempi are victims of the greed for profit, victims of privatizations. And this awareness has provoked generalized anger in Greek society.
Trying to let some steam off, Mitsotakis accepted the resignation of his minister of Transport. But his successor, the honorable Mr. Gerapetritis has close (family and other) ties with the major construction company GEK-TERNA. It was thus confirmed that the urge of the Right-wing party to downgrade the railroads is related to its links with business Groups of “Oilmen” and with construction companies that benefit from exploiting the major highways.
Political impact
The political status of Kyriakos Mitsotakis has suffered a severe blow. All analysts agree that the prospect of an absolute parliamentary majority is no longer possible for New Democracy under Mitsotakis. And with the collapse of his ability to rally possible political allies, especially PASOK which is polling third place, this looks like the beginning of the end for Mitsotakis.
The government’s panic is not easy to hide. They are already thinking to postpone the general election, from the 9th of April to—possibly—the 21st of May, in the hope that with time rage will recede and the right-wing party will regain its dynamics.
It is impressive that in this situation, SYRIZA remains stagnant. It is not easy to hide the responsibility of Tsipras in the privatization of OSE. The latest opinion polls show a decline in support for New Democracy by 4-5%, but also a decline for SYRIZA by 1%.
The mainstream Press and pollsters agree that the generalized anger will reinforce “anti-systemic” electoral behavior. On the left-wing of the political spectrum, this could mean increased support for the Communist Party and MERA25 of Gianis Varoufakis—and to a lesser extent the minoritarian electoral ballots of the far-left. As far as we are concerned, this would be a positive development. But no one should forget about the far rightmenace or downplay the tendency to abstain or cast a null vote, which the predatory electoral law transforms into greater strength for the party that came first.
The most important news is the emergence of this obvious upwards trend in struggles, in the midst of an electoral period. If this trend remains active over time, it will be easier to deal a fatal blow to Mitsotakis. But most importantly, it will be easier to transform his crisis into a crisis for the neoliberal capitalist politics that prevailed the last years.
Antonis Davanellos
Antonis Davanellos is a leading member of DEA (Workers' Left) in Greece.
