The centre of Athens is under siege due to the parallel protest rallies being held by federations, trade unions and unions as part of the 24-hour general strike.
Pireos street is closed from the height of Iera Odos, Panepistimiou street, Stadiou street from the height of Americas street, while all the streets around Syntagma are closed.
At the same time, all the streets around the Syntagma are closed from all over the city.
The GSEE and ADEDY are holding a protest meeting in Klathmonos Square, while the PAME protest meeting is also underway in Propylaea.
The protests are also underway at the Prepopolis Square.
The staff of the public hospitals and the ambulance service, the teachers and the teachers, as well as the court officials are participating in the mobilization.
Also, employees of the ministries, tax offices, local government, social security funds, urban planning offices and banks.
At the moment the traffic has been stopped on Piraeus Street from the height of Iera Odou, as well as on Panepistimiou and Stadiou streets from the height of America Street.
GSEE, ADEDY and EKA, have a rally in Klathmonos Square, where people have already started to gather, while PAME had planned a rally half an hour earlier, in the forecourts of the University.
Pre-rallies were held in central places of Athens such as Omonia and Kanigos squares from 9.30 in the morning.
How Metro, buses and trams run today (20/11)
Passengers are travelling with obstacles today due to the participation in the 24-hour nationwide strike of GSEE; ADEDY, the unions of workers in the Mass Transport.
As announced by the union of OASA workers and the board of the union of ELPAP workers, the blue buses and trolleybuses will be in service today from 09.00 in the morning until 21.00 in the evening.
The Metro’s line 1 ( Piraeus-Kifisia ) operates from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., while lines 2 and 3 run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Tram also runs from 9 in the morning to 8.30 in the evening.
Movement on the streets of Attica due to the strike on November 20
Movement on the roads has been in the red since early Wednesday morning (20/11), with the strike and status on public transport having exacerbated the situation.
Traffic now on the roads: Low speeds on Kifissos and Kifissia – 30-minute delays on Attiki Odos
As announced by the Union of Employees of the Athens Metro Stationary Transport (SELMA), there will be work stoppages from the start of traffic until 09:00 in the morning and from 21:00 until the end of traffic, in order to accommodate the striking demonstrators and enable them to go en masse to the rallies.
Stalled will be the OSE and Suburban trains for 24 hours. A number of routes are expected to be operated by security personnel.
The ships will stay in the ports from 00.01 am to 24.00 am of the same day as the Panhellenic Seamen’s Federation (PNO) participates in the strike with the central demand to address the housing crisis, the restoration of collective labor law and the reduction of the purchasing power of workers.
As far as Thessaloniki is concerned, the employees of OASTH are putting on the handbrake. With security personnel, 50 buses will circulate, while the service for the disabled will be provided normally and the night line of the airport (N1) will be operated.
The urban bus lines, which are operated by the Attica Transport Consortium and the KTEL, will operate normally throughout the day.
In the public sector, tax offices, insurance funds, urban planning offices, prefectures and municipalities will be under-operated, while educators of all levels, public and private sector, have declared their participation in the strike. Participation in the 24-hour strike on November 20 has also been announced by construction workers, hospital doctors and floor workers.
Access to the center of Athens will be difficult, due to the rallies planned from 09:30 in the morning.
The GSEE and ADEDY will hold a protest meeting at Klathmonos Square on Wednesday 20 November at 11 am while PAME will hold a protest meeting at Propylaea at 10.30 am.
In Thessaloniki, the meeting will take place at the Labour and Employment Centre at 10.30 am
With the central slogan “Accuracy and rents to God, wages in the doldrums” the demands of the trade unions are focused on the treatment of accuracy, the increased prices of rents and the housing market and the restoration of the Collective Labour Law.
The Confederation of European Trade Unions also expressed its support to the GSEE strike with the head of the FTA being in our country. Ms. Esther Lynch conveyed the support of millions of workers from across Europe, stressing: ” Policies that allow the accumulation of resources in the hands of a few, strangle the economy and cause undue pain to work families must change. Workers are tired of it. Even the EU now recognizes this and demands that countries take action to strengthen collective bargaining and reach the goal of 80% of workers covered by collective agreements.”
In its statement, the GSEE stresses that ” The November 20 strike is the GSEE’s response to the Government’s refusal to take meaningful measures to ensure a decent living for workers. The Government must finally understand that the welfare of society as a whole depends on the welfare of the world of work.”
“With our General Strike on November 20 and the rally at 11 am at Claythmonos Square – says the President of the GSEE Giannis Panagopoulos – we want to highlight the anger and indignation of the world of wage labor for what is happening to their income. When accuracy is in God’s hands and our wages are in the dumps, when acquiring housing and very expensive rent leads to tragic situations for young people, the government turns a deaf ear. We have no other way to be able to cope with the high levels of inaccuracy, except to increase our incomes. But our incomes remain frozen in the era of memoranda. We are not state-owned, we are not being given the increases by the government, we are not asking for a penny from the state budget, we are asking for our tools, our weapons, back to achieve satisfactory increases. The main tool we have is our collective agreements. We want our collective agreements back, we want real raises and we want them now.”
In a statement, the private teachers stressed that they are on strike with their main demands being the restoration of collective bargaining status in Language Schools, Foreign Language Schools and SACs (formerly IEKs) and wage increases and gift reimbursement in private schools.
The Union of Employees of the Athens Metro Stationary Transport Services (SELLMA), in a statement, stresses that SELLMA is demanding the recruitment of permanent and regular staff for all vacant organic positions, the restoration of the 13th and 14th salary, substantial increases in basic wages, free public health, free public education, fight against obscenity in necessities and living expenses, an extension of the workers’ contracts with the STA’s DIPA program.
At the same time, ADEDY demands:
Real wage increases immediately
Restoration of the 13th and 14th wages
Collective labor agreements
Tax-free at 12,000 euros
Increase and extension of the allowance for hazardous and unhealthy work without any cut.
Supporting the NHS with generous funding.
Recruitment of permanent staff to fill the thousands of vacancies in the public sector, especially in the fields of health, education, social security, etc.
In detail, the Metro and TRAM lines will move as follows:
– LINE 1 METRO (Kifissia – Piraeus): the stations will open to the public at 9 am and the last trains will depart:
from Kifissia and Piraeus at 20:35,
from Monastiraki to Kifissia at 20:51 and to Piraeus at 21:09,
from Omonia to Kifissia at 20:54 and to Piraeus at 21:07,
from Attiki to Kifissia at 20:59 and to Piraeus at 21:02
The Metro – lines 2 and 3
– METRO LINES 2 & 3: the stations will open to the public at 9 am and the last trains will depart:
from Syntagma in all directions at 17:10,
from Anthoupoli to Elliniko at 16:51,
from Elliniko to Anthoupoli at 16:48,
from Municipal Theatre to D. Plakentias at 16:44,
from D. Plakentias to Municipal Theatre at 16:47.
More specifically for the Metro routes from and to the Airport:
– the first trains will depart from the Municipal Theatre at 09:06 and from the Airport at 09:10
– the last trains will depart from the Municipal Theatre at 16:18 and from the Airport at 16:22
The Tram
– TRAM:
Frame 7 (“Voulas Hospital – St. Triada”):
the first train will depart from ASCIIPEIO VULAS at 9:07 and the last at 18:55,
the first train will depart from Agios Triada at 9:07 and the last at 19:07
On Line 6 (SYNTAGMA – PIKRODAFNI):
the first train will depart from PIKRODAFNI at 8:12 and the last at 18:58,
the first train will leave SYNTAGMA at 9:02 and the last at 19:42
Frames 6 & 7 (with a connection to PIKRODAFNI):
the first train will depart from SYNTAGMA to ASCLEPHIOPIOS BULAS at 9:43 and the last at 18:56,
the first train will depart from COLLIPIO VULAS to SYNTAGMA at 9:33 and the last at 18:31,
the first train will depart from AGIA TRIADA to SYNTAGMA at 9:33 and the last at 18:31,
the first train will depart from SYNTAGMA to AGIA TRIADA at 9:44 and the last at 18:47.
Pre-gatherings are set at 9:30 am at the following locations:
Canigos Square: Labour Centre of Lavrio – East Attica, Federations, Unions and Committees of Struggle of workers in the private and public sector.
Omonia: Federation of Women of Greece, Women’s Associations and Groups, mass organizations of the municipalities of Athens, Federations and Unions of Pensioners.
Propylaea: Unions of Teachers, Unions of Employees of Universities and Research Centres, Student Associations of Athens, Association of Students of Public IEK of Attica, Association of Students of Private Schools, Association of Students of Dance, Theatre and Cinema, Coordinating Committee of Students of Athens.
The Federation of Craft Unions of Attica, the Unions and Associations of Professionals, Craftsmen, and Traders call for a rally at 10 am at Kaniggos Square.
