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The KKE supports the struggle of LARCO workers

The workers of the large industrial unit of LARCO, after 54 years of its continuous operation, are faced with the possibility of closure. The coming months are crucial for whether and how the business will continue to operate, for the jobs of hundreds of workers, for the survival of the region itself, whose economy relied heavily on workers' incomes and the overall economic activity around the LARCO.

LARCO is one of the historical and largest heavy industries in Greece, which belongs to the Greek state by 55.19%, while it employs permanent and contract staff of about 1200 employees. It has been active for over half a century in the mining of mineral ores and the production of ferronickel alloy. Ferronickel is the key element in the production of stainless steel and LARCO is a major supplier of multinational giants of the world market. Globally, it is one of the five largest companies of its kind. It is the only continuously operating smelting plant in the EU that produces ferronickel through the processing of its own domestic ores. It covers 6% of the needs of the European Union and 3% of the global needs. Its production is given as a raw material to large European monopolies of stainless steel production, which is a product of multiple surplus value. It owns and exploits a huge area of public land (over 100.000 ha), where ferronickel deposits of a current value of about $ 20 billion can be found in its underground, while it possesses a factory, three mines, a lignite mine, two private ports and two settlements.

People remained in their region, in Larymna and the surrounding villages, because the factory provided a living. Schools, services, and shops operated for this very reason. The whole wider area was affected by its operation. It is therefore obvious that this development with the LARCO factory, but also the other facilities (e.g. mines) affects much more than the 1,200 workers who are justly concerned about their livelihood.

The government and its staffs present the plan to sell the company, which has been undertaken by a special liquidator, as a "rescue from certain loss". They invoke international competition, the crisis, the fall in nickel prices internationally, which in connection with large debts render its operation unprofitable compared to before.

The amendment for the two tenders (factory and mines) has already been voted in the Parliament. The interested investor (or investors) in the factory will have the opportunity to choose from a group of skilled metalworkers in order to profitably continue the production activity, in case LARCO maintains its current object. The same goes for the mines.

The conditions under which these workers will be hired (if or those who will be hired) are at the discretion of the new boss. The liquidation plan provides for dismissal of all workers within the next few days and the delivery of the company "clean" from workers and acquired rights. But even the re-employment of some of them is not guaranteed, since there are scenarios for a change in the orientation of metallurgy in the field of energy production, or the utilization of the port facilities only.

With a gun to the workers' head, the government asks them to accept the liquidation plan. That is their dismissal, the possibility of closing the company, the destruction of the area. It asks them to endorse uncertainty and insecurity for themselves and their families. It even offers a "social package" as bait, which in fact is equivalent to the compensation provided for the redundant workers anyway.

The "rescue plan" has already been denounced and rejected by the workers, because with it the government and the bourgeois state come to open a new chapter for potential investors, with even better terms for their profitability, at the expense of the workers, of their families, and the popular strata of the region.

On Saturday. October 17, 2020, the trade unions of LARCO workers held a 24-hour strike and rally outside the factory in Larymna, against the plans that destroy LARCO and the area, following the great workers’ struggles that have been conducted since the beginning of this year.

 

 

D. Koutsoumbas: We unite our voice with the LARCO workers and the residents of the entire region

A large group of the CC of the KKE, headed by the GS of the CC of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, attended the strike rally of LARCO workers in Larymna and expressed the solidarity of the KKE with the struggle of the LARCO workers, their families and the residents of the entire region.

The workers warmly welcomed the GS of the CC of the KKE with applause.

 

His statement to the media is as follows:

"We are here to express our opposition to the plans to liquidate LARCO and destroy the entire region. We are here today to unite our voice, to express our solidarity with the LARCO workers, their families, the residents of the region, who will pay a heavy price because of the criminal policy and the choices of the current, as of all the previous governments. We do not give up, we move forward, we continue ".

The resolution on the strike rally reads as follows:

"Today's strike rally condemns the government's policy of suspending LARCO and firing workers. The government, without any guarantee for the productive character of the factory, the continuation of its operation, the jobs and the rights of the workers, proceeds to its sale.

80 workers died during shifts and hundreds other from occupational diseases, while  hundreds more are crippled by work accidents. All of us who worked and still work in this place have set up LARCO and kept it open to this day with our blood and sweat.

 

We have the right and demand the following:

  • Under the responsibility of the government, the operation of LARCO must not stop even for a minute.
  • The sale must stop in order to ensure the continuation of the unified operation of the mines and the factory.
  • All jobs and employment rights of "permanent" and contract workers must be secured.
  • Under the responsibility of the state, LARCO must be developed according to its potentials, based on the proposals of the workers that have been officially submitted to the Greek Parliament and notified to the Greek people.

 

We will continue the struggle so that LARCO does not close. We do not accept a single dismissal. We will not give away any of our rights.

We will continue the struggle for the well-being of the workers, the local communities, the defense of the public property and the economic development of the country for the benefit of the Greek people.

The government has the obligation to listen to the anguish of the thousands of families living from the operation of LARCO and to stop this crime ".

22.10.2020