The Greek Island Where Miners Died for an 8-Hour Workday
On August 7, 1916, miners on the Cycladic island of Serifos refused to load iron ore onto a ship called the "Manousi" until their demands were met. What followed was one of the first organized labor uprisings in Greek history, and it ended with bloodshed.
The mines of Serifos had been operating since 1885, when a French mining company out of Lavrio handed operations to Emilios Groman and his family. Groman recruited islanders and workers from across the Aegean, including Paros, Amorgos, and Karpathos, as well as from the Peloponnese, swelling the island's population by roughly 2,000 people. The conditions they worked in were brutal. According to historical accounts, thousands of miners died in the dark tunnels due to dangerous conditions and virtually no safety measures.
"The island risks losing a defining piece of its identity if nothing is done." — Serifos Mayor Kostas Revinthis
Workers were forced to arrive at the mine tunnels at dawn and leave at sunset, walking miles across the island's winding mountain paths each day just to reach the shafts. After Emilios died, his son Georgios continued the same exploitative practices. The miners had no union, no legal protection, and no one in their corner.
When the strike began on August 7, the miners were asking for what now sounds basic: an 8-hour workday, better wages, healthcare, and minimum safety standards inside the tunnels. The company flatly refused and notified the Greek government. The strike held peacefully for two weeks until August 21, when 30 gendarmes landed on the island and opened fire on the strikers.
After the violence subsided, some demands were eventually met, including the 8-hour day, higher wages, and company-covered transport to and from the mines. The mines kept operating until the 1960s and have stood in ruins ever since, mostly in the southwestern part of the island around the settlement of Megalo Livadi. The neoclassical building that housed the company's administrative offices still stands there today.
Serifos Mayor Kostas Revinthis has called for the historic mining landscape to be preserved and the monuments restored, warning that the island risks losing a defining piece of its identity if nothing is done.
