EVERYONE to the GENERAL ASSEMBLY Monday, November 10, 2025 – 16:00 at the Wyndham Hotel / Work stoppage from 15:00 to 19:00

We will discuss the conclusions from the recent strikes and the continuation of our struggle for wage increases and the signing of Collective Labor Agreements.

Colleagues,

The strike mobilizations of October 1st and 14th are a legacy in the ongoing battle we are waging against the modern-day labor Middle Ages of “flexibility” and 13-hour workdays. It is crucial to discuss the lessons learned from our struggle, as well as how we continue it! The massive participation revealed the anger felt by all of us—against exhausting schedules and low wages, against the high cost of living and the taxation even of our tips, against the intensifying repression of a state hostile to its people, a state that covers up scandals and funnels billions into the war economy, while we workers struggle to pay our bills, rents, and mortgages.

In several workplaces, colleagues proved once again through their participation in the strike that a strong worker is an organized worker.

It is now obvious that the government and employers, through the new law, aim to normalize exhausting hours, low pay, and flexible scheduling that prevents us from planning our lives—forcing us to live only to work. This is confirmed by the hoteliers’ letters to the Ministry of Employer Affairs, in which they demand even more: to abolish the mandatory 11-hour rest between shifts, to implement split 13-hour shifts, and to effectively abolish the 8-hour workday.

We now have a duty to become even more informed and to continue the struggle in every workplace—for shorter working hours, for wage increases, and for the protection of our labor rights.

In this struggle, we must be aware that our opponents are not only the government and the employers. We also face the employer-controlled trade unionists, who—while we were fighting against the modern slavery being prepared for us—the majority of the GSEE leadership was meeting with the Minister of Labor to discuss… “corrections” to this monstrous bill! At the same time, the president of the Federation and the other employer-aligned trade unionists became the government’s favorite example used to slander all workers in the sector, spreading the outrageous lie that we ourselves demanded this bill! These are the same people who sign away our rights (such as 7-day workweeks, the abolition of the 11-hour rest, etc.) without asking anyone, without collective procedures, and without any information whatsoever for the workers.

We call on all colleagues and all Boards of Directors of workplace unions to participate in our General Assembly.

The experience gained, the strengths and weaknesses identified, the demands and goals to be discussed—these will form the foundation for achieving victorious outcomes in our struggle. Organizing this effort is the only way forward!

We now move into decisive action, putting our just demands at the forefront. Everyone to the fight for:

• Collective Agreements with real wage increases
• No flexible scheduling and two consecutive days off
• Health and safety measures—our lives are not a cost
• Full-time, permanent contracts; an end to temporary and subcontracted labor
• Measures against inflation in basic goods, utilities, and housing; an end to the disgrace of home foreclosures

THE CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION