Unions in Greece call widespread strikes, seeking a return to bargaining rights axed during bailouts

https://apnews.com/article/greece-strikes-labor-protest-bailout-athens-ferries-cdc4d7c079c56eba4c5cfd02696d8ea9

By DEREK GATOPOULOS and COSTAS KANTOURIS
Updated 8:04 AM CDT, April 17, 2024

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Strikes called by Greece’s largest labor union halted ferries, disrupted public transport services and left some state-run hospitals running on emergency staffing levels in Athens and elsewhere Wednesday.

The General Confederation of Greek Labor, GSEE, led the strikes to press for a return of collective bargaining rights axed more than a decade ago during a severe financial crisis.

Several thousand protesters, chanting “our rights are not utopia,” attended a demonstration in central Athens which ended peacefully. Public park workers also joined the strike and protests, along with food delivery drivers who rode past parliament on motorbikes, holding up red smoke flares.

Police said some 4,000 protesters joined a rally Wednesday in Greece’s second-largest city, Thessaloniki.

FULL story at link above.