The conflict in the parliament on the occasion of the labor bill between Adonis Georgiadis and KKE MPs was brought to an extreme, with attacks and characterizations on both sides when Christos Katsiotis of the KKE called Mr. Georgiadis a “minister number”.

The controversy over the labor bill focused on today’s strike mobilizations with the Minister of Labor speaking of “disaster unionists” as he commented that the protest march in the center was characterized by the small turnout, typically mentioning that “the workers themselves read the bill something which my political opponents and the trade unionists of the calamity did not.”

Continuing, Mr. Georgiadis said that “GSSE is not on strike today. Who’s on strike? Why did the ADEDY of public employees, which does not concern the bill, go on strike? Nobody knows. OLME is on strike. Why is he on strike? So, because they heard that there was a strike somewhere and they saw a light and entered.”

The minister’s statements provoked the reaction of KKE MPs, with Mr. Katsotis defending the participation of the people in today’s demonstration and calling Mr. Georgiadis “number minister”.

In particular, Mr. Georgiadis stated that according to the data he receives, “the large strike mobilization projected by the opposition is not that large after all…”. He characteristically said that “in the OIELE strike, out of the 9,000 private teachers throughout the country, between 12 and 30 private teachers, who are the members of the Board of Directors of the Federation, went on strike and all private schools functioned normally and not a single hour of class was missed.” He invited the opposition MPs to come to the Constitution “to see the grand gathering! There is no soul” and he wondered how “is it possible to bring such a bad bill, which abolishes the 8-hour, five-day working day and there is not a single worker who goes on strike?”.

The minister argued that “if it happened it would be horrible, for a government to legislate such things as you say and not react”. The only ones, said Mr. Georgiadis, “who are on strike today are the PAME trade unionists, but this is not a popular reaction to a bill that would abolish the 8-hour and five-day workday.” He emphasized that this bill “does not abolish either the 8-hour or the five-day work week and this is proven by articles 25 and 26”. Mr. Georgiadis stated that what is being done is that “those who have a five-day, rolling five-day, and happen to work on Saturday or Sunday, will have a 40% increase.” They will work for another five days.” Regarding parallel employment, the minister stated that this provision “is literally translated from the Directive which obligates the member states, as a guarantee of the employee’s rights, not to prohibit him, if he wishes, from working for another employer”.

Mr. Georgiadis characterized as “fantasies” of the trade unionists what they say that the dismissals of those workers who do not consent to the arrangement of their working hours will be allowed». The minister wondered how “it can be said that bus drivers will now work 13 hours, when today there is a maximum work limit”. He observed that while “this bill does not concern civil servants, as constitutionally this is done only by the Ministry of the Interior, today ADEDY, OLME and not GSEE declared a strike” just as no union concerned by this draft law “has issued not one announcement, not one tweet has been made.”

Mr. Georgiadis mockingly commented that “the gathering against the new identities had more participation than today’s strike mobilization” and addressing the opposition MPs who reacted, he added: “You’ve become so resilient”.

The minister argued that “the bill is extremely pro-labor”. He asked the KKE MPs to show him a bottling plant that did not work. And the workers worked and didn’t strike because they know that the provision that concerns them increases their incomes.” He rejected the argument that the failure of the strike mobilization is due to the issuance of court decisions that prohibited it, saying that the decision you are talking about is one and it concerns the Civil Aviation Service, but the bill does not have a single article that concerns them and they did not follow the rules security provided by law.

Concluding his initial statement, the minister stated that “the bill has the consent of the workers. The strike failed. Because the draft law is in favor of workers” and asked ND MPs to vote for it with pride, stressing: “And know that in practice it benefits the world of work and leads workers to higher incomes”.

It should be noted that the position of the Minister of Labor caused many times the reactions and interruptions of the opposition MPs.