Post by albquietman on Mar 19, 2008 16:15:42 GMT -5
Major strikes paralyze Greece
By CNN's Anthee Carassava
ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- Routine activity ground to a halt on Wednesday as protesters from all walks of life staged a general strike over proposed changes to Greece's pension program.
Hospital doctors, air-traffic controllers, teachers, port workers, hotel employees and gas station workers joined thousands of others who walked off their jobs Tuesday when a 24-hour strike by rail workers brought subway and train transport in Athens to a standstill.
Banks had already closed and most courts were empty because of a week-long lawyers' strike.
Mounds of trash are piled up on city streets because of*garbage collectors' strike, while strikes by employees at the main power company have caused rolling blackouts for the past two weeks.
Yiannis Panagopoulos, head of one of the two main labor unions, GSEE, said he will continue to resist the proposed changes, even if they are voted into law.
"The battle doesn't stop with the vote on the legislation," he told reporters Tuesday. If attempts are made to implement the legislation, "resistance will reach its climax," he predicted.
Wednesday's walkout was the third since December and follows nearly a month of widespread labor unrest that has caused power blackouts and transport mayhem and left 75,000 tons of uncollected garbage in Athens alone.
The strike comes ahead of Thursday's planned vote in parliament on a controversial bill that would eliminate most early retirement schemes and consolidate 133 pension funds into about a dozen.
The bill would raise retirement ages for working mothers with children under age 18 from 50 to 55 and would boost the retirement age for other women from 62 to 65 -- matching the retirement age for men. It would also introduce incentives to encourage most employees to work past the age of 65.
Wednesday's strike affected all sectors of Greek life. Olympic Airlines, the company's state carrier, canceled more than 60 domestic and international flights and rescheduled dozens of others, and tourists faced problems getting around in major cities as road and rail transport came to a halt.
Public services and schools remained shut Wednesday. State hospitals treated only emergency cases as doctors backed the action, as did engineers, pharmacists, bank employees, journalists, lawyers and magistrates.
"This new pension package has to be scrapped," said Panagopoulos, president of the country's biggest labor union, which staged Wednesday's strike.
"It is unjust and unfair to all categories of workers, mainly working mothers and young people entering the labor force," he told reporters on Tuesday.
Some 10,000 protesters rallied Wednesday in central Athens, beating drums and blaring anti-government slogans demanding the government retract its proposed legislation.
But the government has vowed to stand firm. The protests are seen as the first major challenge to Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, who analysts say is attempting to succeed where his predecessors failed in trying to overhaul the country's ailing pension system.
The center-right Karamanlis was re-elected six months ago after pledging to press ahead with economic and social changes.
But union leaders and protesters are accusing him of breaking promises not to increase retirement ages.
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Greece's low birth rate in recent years means that there are fewer younger people to contribute toward their parents' retirements, and experts say the retirement system could derail government finances within a decade if changes are not made now.
A poll commissioned by the country's banking unions and published Tuesday reported that more than 71 percent of the population disagrees with the proposed changes.
www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/03/19/greece.strikes/index.html?eref=rss_world
I wish americans will do the same thing when it comes to legislations that hurt the middle class...unfortunately we have a lot of such legislations in USA starting from the healthcare and the list goes on...
By CNN's Anthee Carassava
ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- Routine activity ground to a halt on Wednesday as protesters from all walks of life staged a general strike over proposed changes to Greece's pension program.
Hospital doctors, air-traffic controllers, teachers, port workers, hotel employees and gas station workers joined thousands of others who walked off their jobs Tuesday when a 24-hour strike by rail workers brought subway and train transport in Athens to a standstill.
Banks had already closed and most courts were empty because of a week-long lawyers' strike.
Mounds of trash are piled up on city streets because of*garbage collectors' strike, while strikes by employees at the main power company have caused rolling blackouts for the past two weeks.
Yiannis Panagopoulos, head of one of the two main labor unions, GSEE, said he will continue to resist the proposed changes, even if they are voted into law.
"The battle doesn't stop with the vote on the legislation," he told reporters Tuesday. If attempts are made to implement the legislation, "resistance will reach its climax," he predicted.
Wednesday's walkout was the third since December and follows nearly a month of widespread labor unrest that has caused power blackouts and transport mayhem and left 75,000 tons of uncollected garbage in Athens alone.
The strike comes ahead of Thursday's planned vote in parliament on a controversial bill that would eliminate most early retirement schemes and consolidate 133 pension funds into about a dozen.
The bill would raise retirement ages for working mothers with children under age 18 from 50 to 55 and would boost the retirement age for other women from 62 to 65 -- matching the retirement age for men. It would also introduce incentives to encourage most employees to work past the age of 65.
Wednesday's strike affected all sectors of Greek life. Olympic Airlines, the company's state carrier, canceled more than 60 domestic and international flights and rescheduled dozens of others, and tourists faced problems getting around in major cities as road and rail transport came to a halt.
Public services and schools remained shut Wednesday. State hospitals treated only emergency cases as doctors backed the action, as did engineers, pharmacists, bank employees, journalists, lawyers and magistrates.
"This new pension package has to be scrapped," said Panagopoulos, president of the country's biggest labor union, which staged Wednesday's strike.
"It is unjust and unfair to all categories of workers, mainly working mothers and young people entering the labor force," he told reporters on Tuesday.
Some 10,000 protesters rallied Wednesday in central Athens, beating drums and blaring anti-government slogans demanding the government retract its proposed legislation.
But the government has vowed to stand firm. The protests are seen as the first major challenge to Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, who analysts say is attempting to succeed where his predecessors failed in trying to overhaul the country's ailing pension system.
The center-right Karamanlis was re-elected six months ago after pledging to press ahead with economic and social changes.
But union leaders and protesters are accusing him of breaking promises not to increase retirement ages.
advertisement
Greece's low birth rate in recent years means that there are fewer younger people to contribute toward their parents' retirements, and experts say the retirement system could derail government finances within a decade if changes are not made now.
A poll commissioned by the country's banking unions and published Tuesday reported that more than 71 percent of the population disagrees with the proposed changes.
www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/03/19/greece.strikes/index.html?eref=rss_world
I wish americans will do the same thing when it comes to legislations that hurt the middle class...unfortunately we have a lot of such legislations in USA starting from the healthcare and the list goes on...