Mobile traffic camera operators have issued an urgent warning after the latest violent attack on a colleague, saying staff live and work in fear and face unsafe conditions on the job.
In an anonymous letter released after what they described as the latest extreme incident of violence against one of their colleagues, a majority of operators of mobile traffic camera units said they had decided to break their silence. They said the letter was being published anonymously because they feared dismissal, but reflected the fear, hardship and despair of dozens of workers who risk their lives every day.
The operators said they work in a climate of constant fear and accused the company managing the system of failing to protect them. They said the system had been designed wrongly, with operators placed as “bait” in isolated, dark and remote locations without meaningful protection, while both the state and the company had failed to clearly explain to the public how and where the system actually operates.
They said this was not the first time they had raised such concerns, pointing to a series of incidents they said had been buried or downplayed, including Molotov cocktail attacks in Polemidia, the severe beating of a colleague in Kyvides, gunfire directed at a van, and daily threats, verbal abuse, intimidation and damage to property.
According to the letter, the company’s only concern is keeping the system running continuously. The operators said supervisors impose inhuman conditions with the sole aim of completing each shift and protecting profit.
They also accused the Labour Ministry and the Department of Labour Inspection of being absent, asking where the state is when operators are made to work exhausting schedules of more than 220 to 240 hours a month. They said constant driving, exhaustion, stress and remote locations had created deadly conditions.
Addressing the public directly, the operators said political conflict and public anger over fines were being taken out on workers. They said they do not choose the locations, times or roads where the units operate, and urged people not to target workers inside the vans but those responsible for the system and those profiting from the fines.
They warned that unless the company and the state comply immediately with rules protecting human life, a worker could lose their life while on duty in the near future. They said the issue was not whether such a death would happen, but when.
The letter said it was being made public as an open warning and public record of what may follow, adding that no minister, manager or company should later be able to say they did not know.