What has the Union of Teachers decided for our children? On September the 12th , when schools traditionally open all around Greece, teachers decided to go on strike. As a result, for many students their first day of their school life, was connected with the roughened faces of the teacher unionists who closed the entrances of primary schools and gave the first idea of how the Greek educational system would be like in the years that follow.
Unfortunately, in their vast majority, the unions do not have a sense of duty or moral reciprocity with anyone. They don’t feel any sort of “social contract.” Little interested they are in the “institutions” as they manage to exploit them for their own benefit and generally distort them.
What about the Union of justice? They showed once again to what limited extent, they understand the concept of “solidarity”, which is a basic moral obligation for every member of society. Their relationship with society exists only to require constant solidarity and constant support for other social groups. When the society is suffering the grave consequences of extreme trade practices (anti-social strikes, closing roads, occupations of public spaces and services, etc.), the union leaderships are struggling to convince that “this is not what it seems”.
Only when the corporatist unions abandon dogmatism that make them antisocial and recognize the obligation to respect the necessary moral values, then they will be able to join as an institution essential to the basic structure of society and finally deserve recognition. When they realize that there exist concepts such as “social dialogue” or “vested right”, they will not only be constructions recognized by law, but constructions that also respect the law.