GREECE: Public sector workers enraged over reforms, including thousands of layoffs, stage a 24-hour walkout supported by private sector workers, causing traffic congestion and disruption of services

Record ID: 341026

  • Title: GREECE: Public sector workers enraged over reforms, including thousands of layoffs, stage a 24-hour walkout supported by private sector workers, causing traffic congestion and disruption of services
  • Date: 19th December 2012
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (DECEMBER 19, 2012) (REUTERS) CLOSED SUBWAY STATION SHUTTERS PULLED DOWN ON SUBWAY STATION VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC CONGESTION ON STREET, LONG LINES OF VEHICLES STRETCHING FOR KILOMETRES AND INCHING SLOWLY FORWARD NATIONAL RAILWAY STATION PLATFORM AND TRACKS EMPTY RAILWAY TRACKS EMPTY DESERTED RAILWAY PLATFORM EXTERIOR OF NATIONAL BANK DOORS OF NATIONAL BANK VAR
  • Embargoed: 3rd January 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: Economic News,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAEKSF7HQEJR2BESTHCTSCGEUBM
  • Story Text: Greek state workers walked off the job on Wednesday (December 19) in protest of new austerity measures and planned layoffs, disrupting local transport, schools, banks and tax offices.
    The strike is the latest in a series of protests that started in September against spending cuts demanded by Greece's international lenders as the price for bailout loans.
    The metro and tram were blocked for a few hours during the morning rush hour, causing heavy traffic congestion in the streets. Hospitals worked with minimal staff, as did schools and banks, and the national railway shut down for a two-day strike.
    The strike did not have a major impact on the capital, relatively, as many services were still functioning.
    The General Confederation of Labour, the main private sector union, said it would hold a three-hour stoppage in solidarity with the strike, organised by the Confederation of Civil Servants (ADEDY), the main union representing 500,000 public sector workers.
    Thousands of teachers, doctors and municipal workers were expected to take to the streets and rally in central Athens around midday, though turnout may be smaller than protests last month before the austerity package was passed in parliament.
    52-year-old businessman Savvas Nikolaidis said he expects a smaller participation due to a feeling of resignation.

    "I don't believe there is any point," Nikolaidis said. "At the moment I don't believe they can impose any pressure for something to change. And I do not believe that there will be participation in the strike."
    Government austerity measures - which include earmarking 27,000 civil servants for eventual dismissal - remain deeply unpopular among Greeks who say society is crumbling under the weight of spending cuts and tax hikes that hurt mostly the middle incomes.
    But the rallies have lost some of the momentum since the austerity bill was approved and Athens received long-delayed funds from the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, averting the risk of bankruptcy.
    To make things harder, workers are not paid if they strike.
    But some activists, like 34-year-old unemployed worker Stavrula Kandelanou disagree.

    "They do have a purpose, because we, the unemployed, will never see the bailout loan funds that we received in our pockets," Kandelanou said.

    "I am unemployed, I have two children, and only my husband works with a reduced wage. And we have a loan. The bailout is for the state, and I don't know when this growth is going to come, or if it will come at all. They keep saying about growth but I don't see any growth. I have been looking for work for two years and cannot find anything."
    Train workers also started a 48-hour strike against the conservative-led coalition's plans to privatise Greece's railway company. Metro and tram workers will walk off the job for a few hours on Wednesday and plan a 24-hour strike on Thursday.
    Police deployed about 2,000 officers in Athens on Wednesday, but police officials said they did not expect serious violence.
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