Focusing on tackling high living costs, rising rent prices, and housing market issues, as well as strengthening the incomes of workers and pensioners, GSEE, ADEDY, and EKA have called for a 24-hour nationwide strike tomorrow, Wednesday, November 20.
Serving as a precursor to the nationwide strike is today’s strike by media workers, demanding the signing of collective agreements. Thus, today, November 19, media outlets (print, broadcast, and online) in the public and private sectors, including ERT, GGEP, ANA-MPA, municipal and press offices, EDOEAP, and websites, are on strike from 5:00 AM on Tuesday, November 19, until 5:00 AM on Wednesday, November 20, 2024.
At the same time, public transport will face significant disruptions tomorrow.
So far, participation in the strike has been announced by:
- Blue buses, which will operate from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM.
- OSE and the Suburban Railway, which will halt operations all day.
- The management of the Panhellenic Seamen’s Federation (PNO), which has declared participation in the strike. The strike in coastal shipping across all categories of vessels will start at 12:01 AM and end at midnight on the same day, with primary demands including addressing the housing crisis, restoring collective labor law, and countering the reduction of workers’ purchasing power.
- The Metro, Lines 2 and 3, which will operate from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM.
Announcements for tram, electric railway, and trolleybus services are still awaited.
Public Sector
In the public sector, operations will be limited in tax offices, social security funds, urban planning departments, prefectures, and municipalities. Teachers of all levels, in both public and private sectors, have also declared participation in the strike.
GSEE and ADEDY will hold a protest rally in Klafthmonos Square on Wednesday, November 20, at 11:00 AM, while PAME will gather at Propylaia at 10:30 AM.
The European Trade Union Confederation has also expressed its support for GSEE’s strike, with ETUC’s leader, Esther Lynch, currently in Greece. Ms. Lynch conveyed the support of millions of workers across Europe, spoke with Greek workers, and distributed informational material alongside other union officials in Syntagma Square.
In its statement, GSEE emphasized, “The strike on November 20 is GSEE’s response to the government’s refusal to take substantial measures that ensure decent living conditions for workers. The government must finally understand that the overall prosperity of society depends on the well-being of the workforce.”
“With our General Strike on November 20 and the rally in Klafthmonos Square at 11:00 AM,” notes GSEE President Yiannis Panagopoulos, “we aim to highlight the anger and frustration of wage earners over what is happening to their income. When prices are skyrocketing, and wages are rock-bottom, when acquiring housing or paying exorbitant rents leads young people into dire situations, the government turns a deaf ear. We have no other way to tackle extreme inflation but to increase our incomes. However, our wages remain frozen at bailout-era levels. We are not state-dependent; the government doesn’t give us raises, and we are not asking for a single penny from the state budget. We are asking for our tools, our weapons back, to secure satisfactory raises. The main tool we have is our collective agreements. We want our collective agreements back, we want real raises, and we want them now.”
The Boards of POESY, POSPERT, POEPTYM, ETHPTA, and EFE denounce employers’ organizations for refusing even to engage in dialogue for drafting collective labor agreements in the private sector. This refusal results in poorly paid workers whose wages are insufficient to cover basic family and personal needs, during a period when increasing living costs have eroded household incomes. Additionally, no measures are being taken to address the deregulation of labor relations and collective labor law.
Participation in the 24-hour strike on November 20 has also been announced by private educators, construction workers, and bank employees.
In a related statement, private educators emphasize that they are striking with key demands including the restoration of collective bargaining in tutoring centers, foreign language institutes, and SAEK (formerly IEK), as well as salary increases and the return of bonuses in private schools.
