Greece Invoke Emergency Decree To End Transport Strike

Transport employees working for Athens’ subway system have been ordered to call off an eight-day old strike over a lower pay structure, reported Reuters on Thursday, after the government invoked an emergency anti-strike legislation that would see any remaining strikers either arrested or laid-off.

Transport employees working for Athens’ subway system have been ordered to call off an eight-day old strike over a lower pay structure, reported Reuters on Thursday, after the government invoked an emergency anti-strike legislation that would see any remaining strikers either arrested or laid-off.

The ruling Greek coalition said that the protestors had left the government with “no other choice” but to enact a law allowing for compulsory civil mobilization of workers – marking the first time the coalition has used the emergency law since taking power in June.

[quote]”The workers decided to follow a path of blind conflict,” said Transport Minister Costis Hatzidaki, adding “neither the government nor society can be held hostage to union mentality.”[/quote]

Athens’ Metro workers first went on strike last Thursday, after the government had terminated a deal to put them on a different pay scale than other public employees. According to Antonis Stamatopoulos, head of the Athens metro workers’ union, the unified public employee wage scheme would see subway workers lose, on average, nearly half of their income through successive salary and benefit cuts since the start of the bailout austerity measures in 2010.

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“We are protesting and if they fire people, let them come, they will take us dead from here,” Stamatopoulos said defiantly, warning “starting tomorrow there will be a transportation blackout.”

[quote]”We expect everything now, we have nothing left to lose…. Let Mr. Hatzidakis come here driving a tank,” Stamatopoulos added, as cited by the Associated Press.[/quote]

Despite a court ruling on Wednesday declaring the strike as illegal because authorities weren’t given sufficient notice, Athens’ subway employees are believed to be still refusing to go back to work.

The strike has paralysed the nation’s capital over the last week, as nearly 1.1 million passengers use the subway daily.

Nevertheless, despite the inconvenience caused, some Greeks backed the Metro workers.

“Good for them. How else can they live? They work 50 meters underground for euro500, euro600, euro900 (per month)… What is euro900 ($1,200) today when prices have skyrocketed?” said Vangelis Zisis, who was interviewed while waiting at a crowded bus stop.

Others were angered by the disruption the eight-day strike was having on their work.

“It’s turned my life into a nightmare,” told Sophia Economopoulou to AP. “You understand the nature of our work depends on the metro. So my nerves are on edge.”

The government has insisted there will be no exceptions to the new public sector pay scale, which was part of measures introduced to appease the nation’s troika of lenders.

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“The Greek people have made sacrifices. Huge sacrifices. And I cannot allow exceptions,” said Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. “Besides, public transport doesn’t belong to unions. It belongs to the people, who have the right to use it and not to be inconvenienced from morning to night.“

[quote]”So let everyone understand it: the mistakes of the past will not be repeated,” Samaras added.[/quote]