Bid to break Aristotle University impasse
The rector of Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University, Yiannis Mylopoulos, is to meet on Wednesday members of the labor union representing municipal cleaners who have been holding a protracted sit-in protest at the institution’s campus. The meeting will take place at the office of a local prosecutor who is seeking to break a deadlock that has led to piles of trash accumulating on the university grounds.
Court of First Instance prosecutor Evangelos Mademlis took the unusual step of calling the meeting after members of the local union and of the Communist-affiliated labor union PAME staged a protest at his office on Tuesday. Unionists have taken legal action against Mylopoulos, claiming they are owed money by the university for campus cleaning services outsourced to the private contractor that employs them. The union members said they had been seeking a meeting with the rector for the past month but had been consistently rebuffed.
Workers vowed to continue their protest after 11 of their colleagues were found guilty of disturbing the peace following a 70-day sit-in on the university grounds. The protesters said they would continue industrial action in solidarity with their convicted colleagues until they achieve “final vindication.”
The 70-day sit-in has resulted in piles of garbage accumulating on the campus of the Aristotle University, sparking a feud between students and leftists supporting the workers, with the latter seeking to prevent the former from cleaning up the heaps of rubbish.
