Traffic ground to a halt in Athens on Thursday when city rail workers and a string of other groups joined widening strikes against planned pension reforms.
Traffic ground to a halt in Athens on Thursday when city rail workers and a string of other groups joined widening strikes against planned pension reforms.
Lawyers and court officials, state engineers and bank workers took part in the 24-hour walkout and people struggled with piles of garbage and power cuts from separate strikes, while parliament debated the bill. “I have been stuck in traffic for 90 minutes,” taxi driver Yannis Kiriazidis told Reuters.
“We are moving only a few centimetres at a time and it’s going to get worse as the day wears on.”
On Wednesday flights were disrupted and public services shut during a three-hour walkout by unions opposing the reforms.
The conservative government’s pension reform bill cuts benefits and raises the retirement age in some cases, to make the ailing social security system viable in the long term.
The government, which has faced months of protests, insists the changes are needed to save the pension system from possible collapse in 15 years’ time.
But union leaders, who plan a wider 24-hour strike on March 19 they say will shut the country down, blast the government for making a u-turn on its pre-election pledges not to cut pensions or raise the retirement age.
“The government is destroying our pension fund, taking away 12 billion euros in assets. Where will this money go after the merger of scores of funds? We want the government to shelve its bill,” said Rizos Rizos, a board member at power utility PPC’ union.
Garbage collectors who have been striking since last week said they will continue their strike until Sunday despite the government yielding to part of their demands — classifying their job as hazardous which means a better benefit package.
Ministers and Athens mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis called on their union to return to work and help avert a public health crisis.
“It is an unacceptable sight, the strike is unjustified and workers must consider its impact on the social good,” Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos told reporters.
At least one-hour power cuts are scheduled for many areas in the country as electricity utility workers, who started striking some 10 days ago, continue with rolling 24-hour strikes in the coming days. Bank employees started their 48-hour walkout on Thursday.
The pension reform bill will come up for a vote in Greece’s 300-seat parliament on March 20. The conservatives have a thin majority of 151 deputies in the house with one now-independent deputy siding with the government. (Reuters)
