Workers in public hospitals demanded substantial reinforcement of the public health system against the policy that leaves the people unprotected, carrying out a strike mobilization in the Ministry of Health. The mobilization was attended by the Coordinating Struggle Committee for Disabled People (SEAAN), which demanded the requisition of the private health sector and mass recruitment of permanent staff, Trade Unions and Associations from other sectors, as well as a PAME delegation. Christos Katsotis, member of the CC of the KKE and MP, attended and addressed the mobilization, expressing the KKE's support in the struggle of health workers.

Shipping workers, who carry out a 48-hour warning nationwide strike, were at the bow doors of the ships on 23/02. They struggle against the attack launched by shipowners and the government on their Collective Bargaining Agreements, the composition of the crew, their insurance, pension, and trade union rights. The strike is general in all categories of ships and all ports of the country. Workers from other sectors were on the side of the shipping workers, expressing their solidarity in practice.

In a statement on the strike mobilizations that took place on 23/02/2021 Dimitris Koutsoumbas, the GS of the CC of the KKE, noted the following:

“The heart of the struggles is beating today at public hospitals and ports across the country. At the hospitals, where health workers demand all the necessary measures so that the public health system  will not be lead from the current saturation to the complete collapse under the responsibility of the government. We are on their side for mass recruitment of personnel, the requisition of private structures, and immediate measures in the workplace and the means of transport.

We are also on the side of the shipping workers that are on strike, demanding to work with collective bargaining agreements, decent salaries and insurance rights against the attack of the government and the shipowners.”

At the same time, the KKE and the KNE expressed their solidarity with the 31 students of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) that were detained on 20/02 while holding a General Assembly of their Association. KKE MP Leonidas Stoltidis was also present at the AUTH premises and intervened with the head of the police forces for the release of the detained students. On 23/02, thousands of students in Thessaloniki, Athens and other cities in Greece held mass mobilizations denouncing the police state and state repression. Eventually, the trial of the 31 students was postponed to 25th February and they were  released. As the KNE notes, “The authoritarian slippery slope continues. This is the government's response to the students who demand the obvious, i.e. that schools and university departments should be opened, students should return to their studies, and the law that introduces repression and intensifies business activity within universities should not be enforced. The attempt to intimidate those who are struggling will fail”.

24.02.2021