General strike to disrupt public transport, government services

Thursday's general strike, called last week by the country’s two main umbrella labor unions to protest ongoing austerity, will disrupt public transport as well as halting most government and state services. 

Commuters are to face a difficult day due to restricted services on public transport.

Motorists meanwhile are advised to avoid central Athens as a joint rally organized by the civil servants’ union ADEDY and the private sector union GSEE is to start at Klafthmonos Square at 11 a.m. and proceed to Parliament, where MPs are to continue a vehement debate on next year’s budget. 

Lines 2 and 3 of the Athens metro and the tram will only run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, while the Piraeus-Kifissia electric railway (also known as Metro Line 1), city buses and trolley buses will operate between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. 

There will be no services on the national rail network or the capital’s Proastiakos suburban railway, whose staff will be joining the 24-hour strike, and as a result there will be no rail link to Athens International Airport. 

A four-hour walkout by Greek air-traffic controllers will mean a number of domestic flights between 8 a.m. and noon will be canceled or delayed. 

Meanwhile ferries will remain docked in ports around the country as Greek seamen join the 24-hour action. 

The walkout by civil servants will close schools and public service offices and leave state hospitals on skeleton staff.