Public services in Greece were paralysed yesterday, February 20, 2013 as labour unions organised a 24-hour general strike to protest Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s new round of austerity measures in the midst of record unemployment.
Bloomberg news agency reported that schools, ferries, trains and government services were shut down with midday protests in the capital, Athens, by the country’s public and private-sector trade unions. Greek civil aviation workers also held an eight-hour work stoppage, prompting delays and cancellations at the country’s airports. Athens bus and trolley workers held walkouts while the Athens metro was running in order to bring protesters to the city centre.
The latest cuts in pensions and wages as well as tax rises follow a wave of austerity measures that have led the country to a sixth year of recession, with unemployment at a record 27 per cent. The jobless rate among Greeks aged 15 to 24 now stands at 61.7 per cent, the nation’s statistical service said - the highest in the 27-nation European Union. Yesterday’s strike was different from earlier protests in that public transport was for the most part unaffected. Bus services operated and air traffic controllers were not on strike.
The strike was called by Greece's two biggest labour unions that represent half of the four million-strong work force. It came days before international lenders are due in Athens to discuss the next installment of a bailout. The debt-ridden country is being kept afloat by billions of Euros from other Euro zone countries and the International Monetary Fund. In return, the government has imposed waves of unpopular spending cuts and tax rises, affecting pay and pensions and sending unemployment soaring to more than 26 per cent.
