After 272 days of strike, workers at Halyvourgia steel plant decided to suspend the strike and return to work. Upon a recommendation of the Halyvourgia workers’ union, 107 voted in favour of strike suspension, 14 against, while 29 refrained from voting, in a secret-ballot process that took place on Saturday morning.
The steel plant workers’ union decided to return to work on Monday morning (July 30/2012) at 6 o’ clock in the morning. They will gather outside the plant and will enter once the riot police squads withdraw from the area.
On Friday, strikers had a meeting with Labour Minister Yiannis Vroutsis, who has been “operating” an a middle-man between the strikers and the plant management. Workers had asked for re-hiring of 40 colleagues and withdrawal of police squads.
Halyvoyrgia management rejected the re-hiring however promising to do it once the plant starts to work again and bring profit.
On July 23rd, riot police and stikers clashed in front of the plant when Samaras’ government decided to ‘enforce’ a court’s decision that had ruled the strike was illegal.
