Greek ferry workers and journalists strike against austerity
ATHENS: Greek ferry workers and journalists began a 48-hour strike on Tuesday and were to be joined by other unions in a massive labour challenge to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ austerity policies.
Air traffic controllers, state administration employees, teachers and doctors were set to join the stoppage on Wednesday. Public city transport and many Greek museums are also to be shut down.
Greece’s two largest labour unions grouping private and state sector employees, ADEDY and GSEEE, as well as the Communist PAME, called for the stoppage in protest to the austerity package due for vote in parliament on Thursday.
The strike by seamen has virtually cut off Aegean and Ionian islands, many of them major tourist destinations, since Tuesday morning, the coastguard confirmed.
Journalists went on a 24-hour strike, imposing a news blackout on radio and TV on Tuesday. Newspapers will not be out on Wednesday.
The havoc tourists are facing is set to grow worse for tourists when the air controllers stop working on Wednesday, grounding planes between 9 am and 2 pm (1200-1600 GMT). International flights will have to be moved, carriers warned.
The planned measures include pension cuts and tax hikes amounting to 4.9 billion euros ($5.3 billion) annually, which was a condition for continued financial support in a bailout by the country’s international creditors.
Greece, which has been warding off bankruptcy over the past seven years, must in July repay more than 7 billion euros to the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.