32 pink-clad cleaning ladies entered European Parliament in Strasbourg to plead their case after 595 of them were dismissed from the Ministry of Finance. The decision was taken as part of EU-sanctioned job cuts in Greece to help get the country back on its feet. But despite their dismissal, the women persisted in going to their place of work every day, camping outside the offices they had once cleaned and becoming famous around the country.

Their persistence has now driven them to the EP, following the invitation of two Coalition of the Left SYRIZA party deputies. “It’s impossible for us to find new jobs because we are all close to our retirement age,” explained Froso, one of the sacked cleaners, all of them aged over 45 years.

Posing with MEP Sofia Sakorafa with a banner that reads “Work and Dignity”

“These ladies symbolize the struggle that our country has to endure, and the cruelty of the Greek government,” said Sofia Sakorafa, one of the two MEPs in the Confederal Group of the European United Left – Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL), who had invited the women to the seat of the EP in Strasbourg.

War hero, MEP Manolis Glezos, is on their side

WWII War hero Manolis Glezos, the other GUE/NGL MEP, who had invited the women, welcomed them with a poem:

The heart of the GUE/NGL,
writhed as it tensed up its ears
to hear the Greek workers
not lament their pain
but fight against the bastions of debt
for themselves, for the Greek people
and all the people of Europe
and the world.

Their shirts say “BATTLING CLEANERS OF THE FINANCE MINISTRY”

The Greek state appealed to the Supreme Court and the outcome of the decision is due September 23. The 595 women can consider the battle officially lost if the court rules against them.