Labor & Workforce

Thousands strike in Greece over soaring prices, low salaries

Athens, Apr 6 (EFE).- Thousands of people turned out in Greek cities on Wednesday during a 24-hour nationwide strike called by labor unions to protest rising prices and inflation as well as to demand wage hikes.

Most public transport ground to a halt in Athens, while government-run sectors were also closed down for the day.

The march in the Greek capital culminated with a rally on Syntagma Square, where the Parliament is located.

Rampant inflation, which in February reached 7.2% year-on-year – the highest rate in 25 years – has rendered the series of aid packages approved by the government of the conservative Kyriakos Mitsotakis insufficient, according to unions and the opposition.

Since September, the Government has allocated around 3.7 billion euros in aid for households, companies and farmers.

Mitsotakis has, among other EU leaders, unsuccessfully called for a cap on energy prices.

The unions are also demanding an increase in the minimum wage to 751 euros from the current 663 euros.

Greece emerged in 2018 from a decade of financial crisis, and only two years later was struck by the coronavirus pandemic which severely dented the country’s significant tourism income. EFE

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