Ships docked, trains halted as striking Greek workers protest over rising costs

Record ID: 1819191

  • Title: Ships docked, trains halted as striking Greek workers protest over rising costs
  • Date: 17th April 2024
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (APRIL 17, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING THROUGH ATHENS PROTESTER CHANTING: (Greek) “Eight hours are too many” PLACARD WITH PHOTO OF GREEK PRIME MINISTER KYRIAKOS MITSOTAKIS CROSSED OUT, READING: (Greek) "GOVERNMENT OF KILLERS, WE MUST OVERTURN IT" PROTESTER CHANTING: (Greek) ‘WAGE INCREASES” PROTESTERS CHANTING: (Greek) “PEOPLE, YOU CAN DEFEAT THEM” PROTESTERS MARCHING PROTESTER CHANTING: (Greek) “THE ONLY ROAD IS RESISTANCE” VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING PAST PARLIAMENT BUILDING VARIOUS OF TAXI CABS IN CONVOY DRIVING AND HONKING DURING STRIKE ACTION VARIOUS OF PROTESTER EVINA KALATZI (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) PROTESTER EVINA KALATZI, A PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYEE, 27, SAYING: "It is not possible for a young person between 25 and 30 years old to live on 400, 500, 600 euros a month, with rents going through the roof, with houses being repossessed because of a 600 euro debt, and the supermarkets unapproachable. The wages do not last to the end of the month but only the middle, and we are forced to live a reduced life." VARIOUS OF PROTESTER STELIOS FANOULIS (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) PROTESTER STELIOS FANOULIS, PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHER, 47, SAYING: “The wages are not enough, we are fighting with wage increases that are just breadcrumbs, and if you compare them with inflation they are basically reductions, (and) this has an immediate impact on people’s lives, with a reduced level for everyone.” PROTESTER YIOTA LAZAROPOULOU (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) PROTESTER YIOTA LAZAROPOULOU, BANK EMPLOYEE, 60, SAYING: “It is really difficult, especially for those with low wages they should get a Nobel prize in economy, because you cannot live in Greece at the moment on the minimum wage.” MAN ON RIGHT WITH A BLACK HAT AND SIGN ON HIS CHEST READING: (Greek) "WAGES", MAN ON LEFT ON STILTS WITH A SIGN READING: (Greek) "HIGH PRICES" PULLING THE OTHER MAN MAN PERSONIFYING WAGES HOLDING OUT HIS PALM AS IF BEGGING FOR MONEY PIRAEUS, GREECE (APRIL 17, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FERRIES DOCKED AT PIRAEUS PORT, TIED TO DOCK FERRY DOCKED WITH PROTEST SIGN SIGN ON FERRY READING: (Greek) “MEASURES NOW AGAINST HIGH PRICES…THEIR EXCESS PROFITS, OUR TOIL” VARIOUS OF EMPTY SHIP SHIPS IN PORT PEOPLE WALKING PAST DOCKED SHIPS GATE CLOSED AT SUBWAY TRAIN STATION VARIOUS OF TRAINS STOPPED INSIDE STATION, PLATFORMS EMPTY GATE CLOSED, SIGN ON GATE SIGN ON GATE READING: (English) “NOTICE TO PASSENGERS, ON WEDNESDAY 17TH OF APRIL 2024, THERE WILL BE NO TRAIN OPERATION ON LINES 1, 2, 3 AND TRAM DUE TO 24-HOUR STRIKE OF EMPLOYEES" VARIOUS OF BUS STOPS FULL OF PEOPLE WAITING AS BUSES PARTICIPATE IN STRIKE WITH WORK STOPPAGES, TRAFFIC ON THE STREETS
  • Embargoed: 1st May 2024 12:20
  • Keywords: GREECE STRIKE WAGES
  • Location: ATHENS AND PIRAEUS, GREECE
  • City: ATHENS AND PIRAEUS, GREECE
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: Europe,Society/Social Issues
  • Reuters ID: LVA001577817042024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Thousands of striking workers marched through the Greek capital on Wednesday (April 17) in a 24-hour strike to demand higher pay to cope with rising living costs.
    Ships remained docked at Greek ports and train services were halted as part of the action.
    Bus and taxi drivers also walked off the job for a few hours as part of the labour action called by Greece's largest private sector union GSEE.
    Since a 2010-18 debt crisis when wages were slashed as part of painful austerity in return for three international bailouts, Greece's economy has been growing at nearly twice the euro zone rate and the country last year regained investment grade status after 13 years in the "junk" category.
    The monthly minimum gross wage was raised by 6.4% to 830 euros this month, the fourth such rise in five years, but workers say the pay rises are not enough to keep up with rising food and housing costs.
    The Greek average monthly salary of 1,175 euros is 20% lower than 15 years ago, while unemployment remains above 10%, the second highest in the European Union behind Spain.
    The conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, which won re-election last June, has promised to raise the monthly minimum wage to 950 euros by 2027, when its term ends, and increase the average wage by more than 25% to 1,500 euros in the same period.
    (Production: Stelios Misinas, Vania Turner, Deborah Kyvrikosaios)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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