Greece has been brought to a standstill by a general strike.
Private and public sector workers are demonstrating about the cost of living, and want the government to do more.
CGTN’s Evangelo Sipsas has the story.
#Greece #Strike #Economy
Private and public sector workers are demonstrating about the cost of living, and want the government to do more.
CGTN’s Evangelo Sipsas has the story.
#Greece #Strike #Economy
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NewsTranscript
00:00Well, it has been going on for quite some time, and throughout these past few months
00:03there's been a lot of anger throughout those people who work in the public, but also the
00:07private sector.
00:09What they demand is they want better conditions when it comes to labor laws, and these reforms
00:15have been in place actually by the government since last April.
00:18Now, it depends who you speak to, they have a different stance when it comes to these
00:23labor reforms.
00:24So if you speak to those who support the government or the government, they say that the reason
00:28they've made this is to create the job market more modernized, to boost competitiveness,
00:33but also to align with EU standards.
00:35This way they say that they're going to boost more employment.
00:38Now if you do speak to opposition or unions, what they say and they argue here is that
00:43the only thing that these reforms will manage to do will be able to actually bring more
00:48insecurity in the workplace and make people who already work in a minimum wage more vulnerable
00:55when it comes to negotiating with potential employers.
00:59Unions also are claiming that this will only make things more difficult for them as the
01:04months go by.
01:05But it's not only about the reforms, it's also about the low wages.
01:09As the country right now is experiencing high living costs and inflation, the low wages,
01:14as unions are saying, are not going hand in hand with these high costs.
01:18We spoke to some of those people, some of the teachers, some of the firefighters, some
01:22of the people who work in the private sector.
01:24What they told us here is that it's very difficult for them to live on a minimum wage.
01:28Let's have a listen.
01:29A newly appointed teacher earns €770 and with the current property prices, the annual
01:37cost for empty rental properties is €550.
01:39Honestly, how does the government expect us to live on €200?
01:45Our primary demand is for salary increases and the signing of collective labor agreements.
01:50We also call for the abolition of precarious employment relationships, such as the freelance
01:54contract system under which all graduates from Polytechnics work in technical companies.
02:01But also firefighters came out to today's protest, those who work in the seasonal part
02:06of firefighters, the ones who only work throughout the summer, battling those wildfires.
02:10They came out demanding that they want employment throughout the year, saying simply that climate
02:15change is here and it's affecting Greece, and it's not only the wildfires that is affecting
02:19the country, but also floods that come after that.
02:22Also in today's protest, a number of people from supporting the conflict in Palestine,
02:30supporting actually those who are in need of what is going on in Palestine, and trying
02:35to pressure the Greek government to not fund or send any money to NATO to be able to provide
02:40help to Israel, but also to close the country's ports when it comes for weapons that are passing
02:46by Greece and traveling to Israel.