As part of the draconian austerity terms of the bailout agreements with Greece’s troika of lenders (the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission), the Greek government has been forced to reduce the number of public sector employees. Part of this reduction process are the so-called ‘suspension’ and  ‘mobility’ schemes, according to which civil servants and public sector employees are suspended, receiving 75% of the their basic salary for a few months and then either be moved to another position or simply laid-off. The continuation of the loan payments by the troika is dependent upon accomplishing specific numbers of suspensions and layoffs.
 
Greek universities have been included in this process, despite being notoriously understaffed.  More than 1,300 University employees (administrative personnel, guards, etc.) are going to be suspended, with more than half of them facing eventual lay-off. Greece’s two oldest universities, the University of Athens and the National Technical University have received the heaviest blows. For example, the University of Athens will lose 498 of its 1,337 employees in technical and administrative positions. Whole departments such as the Physics Department, the Chemistry Department, the Informatics and Communication Department will be left with no administrative personnel at all.
 
These suspensions and layoffs will totally cripple universities’ ability to function properly. Libraries will be left without librarians. University campuses will be left without guards for their entrances. Research funding will be lost because of the absence of staff to handle applications.
 
These layoffs came after three years of reduced budgets (some universities find it difficult to pay their electricity bills), slashing of funding for adjunct faculty members, prolonged delays (more than 3 years in average) in appointing elected faculty members, and forced department closures. The current attack follows the introduction of aggressive neoliberal reforms that have drastically reduced student participation and undermined democratic procedure within Greek Universities, in line with the ‘Bologna Process’.
 
As a reaction, the administrative personnel’s unions have called for mass strikes. The University of Athens and the National Technical University have been closed since the beginning of September, and there have been no exams, classes, enrollments. In other universities that have been affected by the suspensions / layoffs there have been prolonged strikes.
 
The Greek Government has attempted to use students as a means to put pressure on the unions. However, student unions have called for mass occupations of university buildings in support of the striking employees and against what is being perceived as the dismantling and potential privatization of higher education. University teachers’ unions have also staged prolonged strikes.
 
The Ministry of Education has adopted an extreme authoritarian and disciplinary attitude. It has initiated the disciplinary process that might lead to firing of 278 employees that refused to be part of the selection process for the suspensions, invoking their right not to participate in administrative processes when on strike. It has taken the issue to court demanding the strike to be declared illegal. However, the unions are defying the court order. As a response, the government has announced that it will even use riot police to open universities, if it needs to.
 
The only allies of the Government have been the student sections of the New Democracy party that has tried – without success – to initiate an “Open Universities” movement and the university councils, new oligarchic governing bodies introduced as part of the latest wave of neoliberal reforms.
 
The announcement of the preliminary list of employees to be suspended made everyone realize that it would be practically impossible for universities to function properly if they’re implemented. The Senates of the University of Athens and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki have resigned in protest. Students are insisting in their occupations.
 
At this moment, we are at a crucial stage of the struggle. It is not only a struggle against layoffs. It is a struggle to defend public higher education as a social right against privatization and commodification. It is a struggle to defend higher education as a democratic social and political space against the neoliberal authoritarianism. This struggle needs all the support and solidarity it can get.