May Day protests held in Athens
Workers hit by lower living standards and high unemployment are expected to take part in May Day protests staged in Athens and other cities on Monday.
Greece’s umbrella unions, the private sector’s GSEE and the public sector’s ADEDY, are organizing a rally at 11 a.m. in central Athens. It will start at Klafthmonos Square and end in front of Parliament on Syntagma Square.
“[Greece’s] bailout government and the creditors have been squeezing the people and workers for seven years,” ADEDY said in a statement.
A general strike will be held against austerity on May 17.
Members of PAME, the Communist Party-affiliated labor union, are staging a separate rally on Syntagma Square at 10 a.m.
“Our government honors the struggles of the working class. And, in spite of the extremely adverse conditions, it tries to back up words with actions,” Labor Minister Effie Achtsioglou said Monday.
The leftist minister said that a large bank was recently fined 1,6 million euros for breaching Greek workplace laws. She did not name the bank.
Disruptions
There will be disruptions in public transportation services on Monday, as workers mark May Day.
A 24-hour strike will be staged by Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) employees, as well as workers on the capital’s Proastiakos suburban railway, ending midnight on Monday, which will affect services to Athens International Airport.
Workers on the Kifissia-Piraeus electric railway (ISAP) will be holding a work stoppage Monday from the beginning of services until 8 a.m.
Athens buses will not be running due to a work stoppage between the start of services and 9 a.m., and again from 9 p.m. until the end of the shift. Trolley buses will be out of service the entire day.
