Initially I would like to apologise because in November we will screen only one movie, due to a very demanding and stressful schedule that I have to survive from. That means that the movie will be screened on Sunday the 23rd of November, as always  at Fietsenwerkplaats Mutual Aid at Travertijnstraat 12. We will watch the 2007 dark comedy “Lars and the real girl“, directed by Craig Gillespie(duration 1h46m). Is a touching and unusual film about loneliness, love, and acceptance, which is the main reason I chose this movie. Ryan Gosling gives a heartfelt performance as Lars(actually his second acting performance that won my sympathy after “Drive”), a shy man who forms a relationship with a life-sized doll he believes is real. What makes the movie special is how the small town responds—with kindness instead of ridicule—showing compassion’s healing power. It’s gentle, funny, and deeply human.

Usually, in my previous newsletters, somewhere here would be placed the phrase  PS: If you’re no longer interested in receiving these newsletters, please reply and we’ll remove you from the list. But this time I would like to inform you(and apologize, for second time in this newsletter, for a longer email and maybe boring information for some) about the decision of a European country to pass (successfully) from its parliament, a labour law, that gives to the employer some tools with which they can force the employees up to 13 hours of work per day for 37 days per year. Yes, take your time and read it again. I can wait.

This country introduces 13 hours work days under limited conditions for 37 days per year. This is the general rule. But through the arrangements the bosses or supervisors can impose, with some tools that the law gives them from now and on, the following : working 10 hours per day for 75 days (in a row) per year and they can call this period “increased employment”. For this, the employer is not obligated to pay extra money for overtime. In addition, the employer can ask you to work 10 hours per day for 37 days per year. This amount of time is divided into two parts. The first is that you have to work 6 hours (they call it a period of decreasing employment) + 4 hours extra time. Finally, they can ask you to work for 90 days per year 9 hours per day, your normal 8 hours work + 1 hour overtime. This means that a worker should be at the job 47% of the year for 10 hours, 38% for 9 hours and 15% for 6 hours.

The government claims that the workers can disagree if their supervisors ask for something like this, but we all know that this will put their job in jeopardy. And if you doubt  it, that means that you are not coming from Greece, cause this is the country that will “run” this project.

Is this the future? Is this the first experiment to see the reaction of the working masses?

Well, as a Greek who doesn’t live there anymore, I am sure that the Greeks have to fight in so many different battles and levels, and that either they will be silent and numb or a huge social explosion will occur. Personally I hope for the second scenario.