Two million Greek workers strike against austerity measures

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Two million Greek workers strike against austerity measures
By our reporters in Athens
25 February 2010

Some two million Greek workers participated in a general strike on
Wednesday. The mass one-day action was called in response to austerity
measures being imposed by the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK)
government of Prime Minister George Papandreou.

Elected last October on the basis of populist appeals to working class
anger over the policies of the previous conservative government,
Papandreou quickly bowed to demands from the European Union and the
international banks to impose drastic cuts in jobs, wages and social
programs in order to stave off a default of government debt by
slashing Greece’s soaring budget deficit.

The strike reflected widespread popular opposition to the austerity
program, which is being roundly criticized by the European Commission
and financial interests as insufficiently harsh. The mass action
brought the country to a virtual standstill.

All flights to and from Greece—with the exception of emergency
flights—were cancelled, as air traffic controllers joined the action,
forcing the closure of the nation’s main airport, Athens
International. Public transportation was severely disrupted, with the
Athens metro and bus services running only a skeleton service to allow
strikers to get to demonstrations in the city centre. Trains and ferry
services ground to a halt.

Public schools, tax offices, courtrooms and other government buildings
were closed nationwide, as were public hospitals and other state-run
facilities. All the main archaeological and tourist sites were forced
to close, including the Acropolis in Athens.

Media workers also struck. Journalists, members of the national
journalists’ union, held a 24-hour strike and as a result no
newspapers will be published on Thursday. Due to industrial action by
media workers, there were no reports of the strike on national television.

The strike takes place within the context of growing working class
resistance across Europe to austerity measures now being imposed by
governments across the continent—irrespective of whether they are
nominally social democratic or conservative.

The previous day, tens of thousands of workers took strike action and
protested throughout Spain against government measures to slash
pension benefits, including extending the legal retirement age from 65
to 67. The Socialist Party government of José Zapatero is also seeking
to implement legislation that would erode workers’ employment rights.
A recent poll in the El Pais newspaper found that 84 percent were
against the government’s labour “reforms.”

Demonstrations and strikes have also been held in Portugal, Germany,
France and Italy over the last few days.

On Monday, pilots employed by the German flagship airline Lufthansa
began a four-day strike in opposition to attacks on their jobs and
conditions, only to see the action aborted by their union.

In France, air traffic controllers began a four-day strike on Tuesday
to oppose the rationalisation of Europe’s air traffic control system.
Air France pilots are set to take industrial action on Saturday to
protest rationalization measures and job losses, while in the UK,
12,000 cabin crew staff employed by British Airways voted four-to-one
in favour of strike action against job losses and other measures
associated with restructuring.

On March 1, Czech transport workers are set to strike on all rail and
bus routes for five hours in opposition to plans to eliminate
benefits, such as cheaper fares. On March 4, public sector workers in
Portugal are to strike against the government’s imposition of a wage
freeze and attacks on pension rights.

Yesterday’s action was the first general strike since the landslide
election of the PASOK government. It was called by the two main trade
union federations, covering the private and public sectors
respectively—the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) and the
Civil Servants’ Confederation (ADEDY). Together, the two federations
represent about half of the five million-strong Greek work force.

While workers who struck and demonstrated expressed militant
opposition to all attempts to make them pay for the bankruptcy of the
Greek state, union officials indicated that they were ready to enter
into talks with Papandreou. Making clear that the unions’ aim is to
pressure the government for changes in the austerity package, rather
than its withdrawal, Yiannis Panagopoulos, head of GSSE, told the
press, “We demand a fair distribution of the burden” of deficit
reduction policies.

Spyros Papaspyros, president of ADEDY, said, “We will meet in the next
couple of weeks to decide our further action.”

On February16, European Union finance ministers agreed to effectively
disenfranchise the Greek population and place the country’s budget
under EU scrutiny. This is despite the government’s insistence that it
is intent on meeting demands to reduce the public deficit from 12.7
percent of gross domestic product to 3 percent by 2012 in order to
comply with EU regulations.

Papandreou has pledged to ensure the deficit is cut to 8.7 percent
this year. The cutbacks being implemented are part of a €2.5 billion
euro reduction in public spending, and include a wage freeze across
the public sector, a 20 percent across-the-board cut in civil-service
bonuses, and a two-year increase in the average retirement age.

Other measures set to be introduced shortly include an increase over
the current value added tax rate of 19 percent and a hike in fuel,
alcohol and tobacco taxes. The EU has also demanded that Athens slash
one of two extra months of pay that public sector workers now receive
over and above their normal 12-month salary.

On the eve of the strike, the financial markets intensified their
pressure on the PASOK government to make even more severe cuts. The
ratings agency Fitch downgraded the credit ratings of Greece’s four
largest banks, a measure that will make it more difficult for the
government to borrow from international banks and investors and avoid
default.

Two protest marches were held in the capital—one by the All-Workers
Militant Front (PAME), affiliated to the Stalinist Communist Party of
Greece (KKE), and the other by the GSEE and ADEDY federations and
their affiliated unions.

Approximately 40,000 workers and youth participated in the
demonstrations, with many workers bringing handmade placards and
chanting slogans, including “The Crisis Should Be Paid for by the
Plutocracy,” and “Permanent and Steady Jobs for All.”

Other slogans included “Where Has All the Money Gone?” and “Billions
of Euros for Capitalism, but Nothing for the Workers—Rise Up!” Banners
read “Keep Your Hands Off Our Benefits,” “People Are More Important
than Markets and Banks” and “Enough is Enough!”

A section of protesters was attacked by riot police with pepper spray
and tear gas near Syntagma Square. The police claimed this was to
prevent some of the protesters from entering Athens University. Police
brutally beat some of the demonstrators with their truncheons and made
several arrests.

In the second largest city, Thessaloniki police estimates reported
that some 7,000 people gathered to protest. Demonstrations were also
held in other cities and towns.

Even as the protests were taking place, however, the government
indicated that it would announce further austerity measures next week.
This follows a visit on Tuesday by officials from the European Union,
the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Earlier, IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard warned that high-debt
countries like Greece face an “extremely painful” period of budget
tightening that could last up to 20 years and require “sacrifices.”

http://wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/gre1-f25.shtml

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