Greeks call strike over austerity and bailout reforms
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[December 14, 2017]
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greeks walked off the
job on Thursday in a nationwide strike protesting against austerity
measures and reforms the leftist-led government has agreed with the
country's bailout lenders.
Domestic flights and Athens transport were disrupted, ships remained
docked for 24 hours and some public services were shut by the strike
organized by Greece's largest labor unions, private sector GSEE and its
public sector counterpart ADEDY.
The two unions have staged repeated strikes since the first bailout in
2010 but participation has been low in recent years due to inertia and
austerity fatigue after three rescue packages and five snap elections in
eight years.
Around midday, about 10,000 striking workers, pensioners and students
marched peacefully to parliament where lawmakers have been debating the
2018 budget. A vote on the draft is scheduled for next week.
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They chanted: "Take your bailouts and get out of here." Protesters held
banners reading "Shame on you!" and "No more lies!".
Greece's fiscal goals have been approved by its European Union lenders
and the International Monetary Fund.
Under its latest bailout review, the government has agreed to cut
spending further, reduce pensions, complete an evaluation of public
sector staff's skills and qualifications and sell coal-fired power
stations. It will also tighten the rules for unions to call a strike.
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![](../images/121417pics/busine50.jpg)
People shout slogans during a demonstration marking a 24-hour
general strike against austerity in Athens, Greece, December 14,
2017. REUTERS/Costas Baltas
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"Hands off unions!," chanted some of the protesters.
The state had adopted "ruthless dead end policies which were strangling the
Greek people", GSEE said in a statement.
Hundreds of thousands of Greeks have lost their jobs during the crisis and a
deep recession induced by austerity. Pensioners have seen their income slashed
by more than 30 percent.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras won power in 2015 on promises to end austerity but
later signed up to a new 86 billion euro bailout that ends in August. He was
re-elected on pledges to protect the poor and pensioners as well as workers'
wages and rights.
With his Syriza party's popularity sliding in opinion polls, Tsipras, whose term
ends in 2019, wants to attempt "a clean exit" from the bailout, without
additional financial aid from the lenders that usually comes with more
conditions.
(Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Catherine Evans)
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