By Diego Sáez Papachristou
Athens, Oct 14 (EFE).- Tens of thousands of Greeks took to the streets of Athens and other cities on Tuesday in a nationwide public sector strike that paralyzed transport and services across the country.
The protest, the second major mobilization in two weeks, targets a government bill that would allow employers to extend the working day to up to 13 hours.
The 24-hour strike, called by Greece’s main public sector strike that paralyzed transport and services across the country.
In Athens, metro and suburban trains were suspended, though workers briefly resumed limited service in the morning and at midday to allow people to attend the demonstrations.
“No to 13 hours of slavery”
Around 10,000 protesters, according to police and ADEDY estimates, gathered outside the Greek parliament as lawmakers began debating the bill ahead of its vote on Wednesday.
Demonstrators carried banners reading “Withdraw the 13-hour bill, labor rights will not go back 150 years” and “No to 13 hours of slavery.”
“This law is part of a broader policy that destroys collective labor rights,” said Spiros Vettas, a secondary school teacher who joined the Athens protest.
“We already see more violence and crime in schools, and this will only get worse if parents can’t even see their children because they’re working 13 hours a day,” he told EFE.
Vettas warned that the reform would also indirectly affect public sector workers, as longer working hours for parents could affect after school schedules and social dynamics.
Divisions among labor unions
While the bill directly concerns private sector workers, Greece’s largest private sector union, GSEE, did not join the strike, a decision criticized by ADEDY.
“It’s incomprehensible that GSEE didn’t call for a strike over an issue that mainly affects the private sector,” said Yorgos Petrópulos, a member of ADEDY’s Executive Committee.
“We took to the streets out of solidarity because we all have friends and relatives in the private sector,” Petrópulos added. “But GSEE’s inaction prevented this protest from being even larger.”
Government defends reform as “modernization”
The conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, which holds an absolute parliamentary majority, is expected to pass the bill on Wednesday.
The proposal allows employers to request up to 13 working hours per day in exchange for a 40% overtime bonus, while maintaining the 48-hour weekly limit and 150 annual overtime hours.
Labor Minister Niki Kerameos said the extended hours could apply legally on a maximum of 37 days per year, insisting the reform “modernizes” Greece’s labor framework and “adapts it to current business needs.”
Unions and opposition parties, however, denounce the measure as a “return to the Middle Ages” for workers’ rights. EFE
dsp/seo/mcd
