Private and non-private staff stage a 24-hour walkout for a full return of collective bargaining rights.
A nationwide basic strike disrupted public providers throughout Greece, with ferries tied up in port, flights grounded and public transport operating solely part-time as labour unions press for increased wages to deal with rising residing prices.
The 24-hour strike on Wednesday was known as by the 2 predominant umbrella unions masking the private and non-private sectors, looking for a full return of collective bargaining rights which have been scrapped as a part of worldwide bailouts throughout Greece’s monetary disaster.
Greece has emerged from a 2009-18 debt disaster, which noticed rolling cuts in wages and pensions in flip for bailouts price about 290 billion euros ($319bn) and financial development seen at 2.3 p.c this yr, outpacing different eurozone economies.
Tapping on the nation’s progress, the conservative authorities elevated the month-to-month minimal wage by a cumulative 35 p.c to 880 euros ($970). However many households nonetheless battle to make ends meet amid rising meals, energy and housing prices, the labour unions say.
The nation braces for additional world monetary turmoil triggered by US tariffs.
‘People are powerless’
“Our confederation’s wage demand is to convey again collective wage bargaining. Earlier than 2012, half of Greek staff had collective wage agreements. However there was additionally a nationwide wage settlement signed by employers and unions which meant greater than 90 p.c of staff loved maternity depart,” Yiorgos Christopoulos, from the Normal Confederation of Employees (GSEE), instructed Al Jazeera.
“Now the federal government has put particular person contracts on the coronary heart of its coverage. However people are powerless to cut price [with] their employers,” he stated.
“Costs have gone so excessive that we’re shopping for fewer items by 10 p.c in comparison with 2019,” GSEE, which represents greater than two million non-public staff, stated in an announcement. “We’re hanging for the apparent. Pay rises and collective labour contracts now!”
Putting protesters have taken to the streets in central Athens the place buses, trolleys, trains, trams and the subway system are working just for a part of the day. Related demonstrations have been organised in different cities and cities.
In the meantime, business flights to and from the nation and between home locations have additionally been cancelled from midnight Wednesday till midnight Thursday.
‘It’s a spot that retains getting larger’
Greece’s minimal wage when it comes to buying energy was among the many lowest within the European Union in January, behind Portugal and Lithuania, knowledge from the EU’s statistics workplace Eurostat confirmed.
At 1,342 euros ($1477.28) a month, the common wage nonetheless stands 10 p.c decrease than in 2010, when the monetary disaster broke out, knowledge from the Greek Ministry of Labour exhibits.
The nation is, nevertheless, outperforming its 2 p.c major surplus targets, leaving some room for wage will increase, however the authorities says it should be fiscally prudent to restrict curiosity levied on its debt, which remains to be the very best within the eurozone.
The federal government has promised to lift the minimal wage additional to 950 euros ($1,047) because it targets a median month-to-month wage of 1,500 euros ($1,654), nearer to the EU common.
“It’s a spot that retains getting larger due to worth hikes and inflation that impacts power and medicines,” Angelos Galanopoulos from the Seafarers Union instructed the Reuters information company.
