Attica Governor Rena Dourou was under fire for launching a tender for a private cleaning service rather than hiring the “fighting cleaning ladies” that have been engaged in a months-long legal battle to win their jobs back at the Finance Ministry. Proto Thema published a report that claimed that she had forgotten her pre-election statements in her implementation of the program started by the previous regional governor Yiannis Sgouros. Ms. Dourou slammed the report as fabricated and said that she continues to support the struggle and that “hiring them in the Attica region would constitute populism.”

Other publications followed suit, pointing to the Coalition of the Left (SYRIZA) party’s parade of the women as far as Brussels and then not giving them a job when the opportunity arose.

In her announcement on Wednesday, Ms. Dourou clarified that the current government is the one that is responsible for group dismissals, including the sacking of 595 cleaners from the Finance Ministry, that it refuses to rehire. The message also made it clear that the cleaning services of private companies would not be sought. In this respect, Ms. Dourou has sent a request to the Internal Affairs Ministry that clarifies that she will not commission private groups to cover the positions in the cleaning, security, health and maintenance sectors of departments within her jurisdiction.

On their part, the dismissed cleaners intervened on Wednesday in a row between the governing conservative New Democracy (ND) and SYRIZA parties over Ms. Dourou’s decision not to offer them jobs at the regional authority after ND parliamentary spokesman Adonis Georgiadis accused Ms. Dourou of hypocrisy. The cleaners issued a statement saying that Ms. Dourou never pledged to find them jobs. “We never asked Rena Dourou to hire us and she did not promise to hire us,” said the cleaners, who said they are only interested in regaining their previous positions.