Workers in Greece staged their first mass walkout since a new conservative government took office in July. As a result, ferries stayed in port while buses and trains ran on reduced services. The government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis came to power on pledges to speed up investment and spur growth in a country where economic output shrank by a quarter during a multi-year financial crisis.
The strike was triggered by government labour reforms, including moves to change some rules governing the calling of strikes, allowing changes to collective working agreements under certain conditions and setting up a registry for labour unions, which have called the move an attempt to control them. Thousands of Greek workers marched silently holding banners that read, “Hands off Unions,” through central Athens.
The proposed legislation that will allow workers to vote remotely on industrial action without attending meetings, permits changes in some collective work agreements. The legislation will also allow the establishment of a registry for labour unions. It is due to be put through parliament by mid-October. Labour union ADEDY, which represents about half a million civil servants, says the changes the administration is trying to usher through parliament would hobble the right to strike.
Banks, schools and hospitals were also shut as unions representing the workers urged members to go on strike.
