Greek workers take to streets on costs

ATHENS－Tens of thousands of Greeks walked off the job across the country on Wednesday to join a 24-hour general strike over soaring electricity, heating and housing costs. Public services and transport were disrupted.

Approximately 10,000 demonstrators participated in a rally organized in front of the Parliament by umbrella labor unions for civil servants and private sector workers.

The strike left ferries to and from Greek islands tied up in port, and left Athens without a subway, tram, trolley, or suburban railway, while buses were to run for 12 hours from 9 am.

State-run hospitals were only treating emergency cases as healthcare workers joined the strike, called by the country's two main umbrella unions for public and private sector workers, demanding salary increases and measures to tackle rising prices.

"Wages are small. Bills are huge. We demand solutions," they chanted.

"Today's nationwide strike is an important step in escalating the struggle of workers' movement against the big front of huge living costs," Dimitris Koutsoumpas, general secretary of the Communist Party of Greece, told journalists.

Skyrocketing prices

The ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict has sent energy and food prices skyrocketing, and households and businesses find it increasingly difficult to make ends meet, said the labor unions in press statements, demanding more support measures like substantial salary increases from the state.

The government has recently allocated about 4 billion euros ($4.37 billion) to ease the burden on Greek society and the real economy, but much more is needed, they said.

"We are here today to protest against the increase in energy and fuel prices, which affects us as professionals, but also our clients. Some of them are already on the brink of collapse," a tax consultant said.

"Today, we are asking for immediate measures to help the average income employees, the low-wage earners, the unemployed. Something must be done so that we do not pay for this crisis," hotel employee Yannis Sozos said.

Between 2010 and 2018, Greece experienced an acute debt crisis coupled with harsh austerity measures. The economy had just started to return to growth when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Today, Greeks once again feel their incomes squeezed by the effects of the conflict in Ukraine.

"For the last 14 years, workers have been bearing the burden of a deep crisis that affected the income and the lives of everyone," said the General Confederation of Greek Workers union, referring to the Greek financial crisis that started in late 2009 and left the country dependent on international bailouts for a decade.

Xinhua - Agencies