A strike of the ΕΣΗΕΑ is harmful to the media sector

The journalists, management and technicians employed at the "Proto Thema" newspaper and www.protothema.gr, discussed the matter of the crisis within the mass media and its correlation to the general economic crisis in a general meeting called on the 9th of December of 2010.

The employees declare their complete disagreement with the combined efforts of the government and certain owners of Mass Media companies to upset employee relations within the media, by introducing an elastic and underpaid form of employment that reinforces employer vested interest and the treasure troves they have been creating for the past twenty years.

We wish to underline our sincere and indefatigable support to the employees that already face unemployment, reductions in pay and all those who witness their work being depreciated.

We abhor the owners' network actions, since they refuse to account for their actions and responsibilities and talk with the ΕΣΗΕΑ ( Editors Coalition of Daily Athenian Newspapers), in order to sign a collective employment agreement that ratifies the rights of employees in this sector.

We also request employment position security, the immediate halting of mass dismissals and the introduction of measures to protect the unemployed.

We also believe that strikes undertaken by the union must be specific and aimed at the organizations that face trouble (ΔΟΛ, Pigasos, Skai, Alter, etc).

We state our reservations about the efficiency of generalized decisions and actions that will ultimately lead to a spill-over of the crisis. We believe that actions such as the announced 48-hour strike on the 17th and 18th of December will only serve to obscure the liability of certain media owners and ultimately go against the issues they were meant to highlight.

Instead of helping employees facing real problems, they only leave them unprotected and, additionally, create problems in the whole media sector.

It is a given that the employees in Proto Thema and protothema.gr will follow any decisions made by the Executive Board of ΕΣΗΕΑ and will be a part of any action.