In the course of June, the trade union movement has organised a wide range of strikes and rallies in protest against the government's new package of austerity measures and the selling of state assets. Spokespersons emphasised that the current austerity package that the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) insist on, implies that the purchasing power of large parts of the population will decrease by 20 to 30% in 2010-2011, and that this decrease will frustrate any economic recovery. On 26 and 27 June, the power workers’ union called a 48-hour revolving strike in protest at in particular the decision to privatise the company as part of the wide-ranging privatisation plans. This strike was followed by a 48-hour general strike on 28 and 29 June focusing on the proposed austerity measures called by both the ADEDY and GSEE union confederations. The industrial action shut down government services, disrupted public transport and delayed flights across the country.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/426;
http://www.euronews.net/2011/06/28/greek-unions-reject-austerity-with-general-strike/;
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/06/28/uk-greece-strikes-idUKTRE75R10E20110628
Greek: http://www.adedy.gr/adedy/site/home/ws.csp
This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2011.