Benefit voku for horeca workers rights in Athens

On October 19, 2023, another co-worker and I, both working as cooks at Valteziana pizzeria, located at 41 Valtesiou Street in Exarchia, were unexpectedly dismissed after refusing to accept a deterioration of our working conditions.

A few days before our retaliatory dismissal, we had raised concerns with management regarding the new circumstances and, consequently, the increased workload that had arisen following the resignation of a worker at the time. Recognizing their unwillingness to hire a replacement and their intention to normalize a situation of understaffing and increased work intensity, we proposed a number of conditions aimed at ensuring that the kitchen could continue to operate smoothly. Their response was unequivocally negative to everything we proposed, leaving absolutely no room for discussion.

From our side, it was made clear that the existing working conditions were becoming exhausting. Management arbitrarily interpreted this as a resignation. The very next day, they refused to allow us to work and ultimately proceeded with our dismissal.

This development was certainly not an isolated incident. Rather, it was the result of a prolonged dispute with management, fueled by a series of demands and claims we had been raising over the preceding months, as well as by our decision to adopt a more formal and assertive stance toward management in the workplace.

As a result, we initiated a labor struggle through the SSM, with the aim of securing our immediate reinstatement and claiming the financial compensation to which we were entitled. Within a short period of time, an intervention took place at the establishment, followed by a favorable decision in our case by the Labor Inspectorate (SEPE). Last October, a Civil Court also ruled in favor of the invalidity of our dismissals.

In the meantime, the business, which operated as an IKE — a Greek private company structure — closed down, citing bankruptcy as the reason. A few months later, however, a new establishment opened at the exact same location, under a new management and tax identification number, operated by the owners of Black Salami in Exarchia, under the name Valteziana 2.0.

Valteziana was ultimately no more than another establishment in central Athens which, under the umbrella of gentrification, sought to increase its profits by promoting an alternative image and presenting itself as a relaxed, LGBTQ-friendly place, all while cultivating the image of a family-like environment for its workers.

Our struggle, therefore, is part of the broader struggle against exhausting working conditions and the direct or indirect forms of coercion that suggest that if workers unionize and demand the labor rights to which they are entitled, they will find themselves without a job.

Volkseten Vegazulu is a people’s kitchens existing since the very beginning of Joe’s Garage, June 2005. Your donations are welcome. Food is vegan, no reservation. All benefits go to social & political struggles. Joe’s Garage is a space run by volunteers. Without a collective effort, without your active participation, we’re remaining closed. Get in touch in you feel like giving a hand. We’re always looking for cooks. Any help is welcome in the kitchen. Experience not required. If you want to know which days are still available, mail us

Since June 2005, Joe's Garage is an autonomous squatted political social center, a meeting place in the Transvaal neighborhood for squatters and non-squatters, subsidy free, not for profit, self-organized and entirely run by volunteers.
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