Private and non-private employees stage a 24-hour walkout for a full return of collective bargaining rights.
A nationwide common strike disrupted public companies throughout Greece, with ferries tied up in port, flights grounded and public transport working solely part-time as labour unions press for larger wages to deal with rising dwelling prices.
The 24-hour strike on Wednesday was known as by the 2 primary umbrella unions protecting the private and non-private sectors, searching for a full return of collective bargaining rights which had 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 value about 290 billion euros ($319bn) and financial development seen at 2.3 % this 12 months, outpacing different eurozone economies.
Tapping on the nation’s progress, the conservative authorities elevated the month-to-month minimal wage by a cumulative 35 % to 880 euros ($970). However many households nonetheless wrestle to make ends meet amid rising meals, energy and housing prices, the labour unions say.
The nation braces for additional international 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 employees had collective wage agreements. However there was additionally a nationwide wage settlement signed by employers and unions which meant greater than 90 % of employees loved maternity depart,” Yiorgos Christopoulos, from the Basic Confederation of Staff (GSEE), informed Al Jazeera.
“Now the federal government has put particular person contracts on the coronary heart of its coverage. However people are powerless to discount (with) their employers,” he stated.
“Costs have gone so excessive that we’re shopping for fewer items by 10 % in comparison with 2019,” GSEE, which represents greater than two million non-public employees, stated in a press release. “We’re putting for the plain. Pay rises and collective labour contracts now!”
Members of the communist-affiliated PAME commerce union exhibit in entrance of the parliament constructing throughout a 24-hour strike over low wages, in Athens, Greece, April 9, 2025 (Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters)
Hanging 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. Comparable demonstrations had been organised in different cities and cities.
In the meantime, industrial flights to and from the nation and between home locations have additionally been cancelled from midnight Wednesday till midnight Thursday.
‘It’s a niche that retains getting greater’
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, information from the EU’s statistics workplace Eurostat confirmed.
At 1,342 euros ($1477.28) a month, the common wage nonetheless stands 10 % decrease than in 2010, when the monetary disaster broke out, information from the Greek Ministry of Labour exhibits.
The nation is, nevertheless, outperforming its 2 % major surplus targets, leaving some room for wage will increase, however the authorities says it have to be fiscally prudent to restrict curiosity levied on its debt, which continues 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 niche that retains getting greater due to value hikes and inflation that impacts vitality and medicines,” Angelos Galanopoulos from the Seafarers Union informed the Reuters information company.
