Greek workers on Wednesday walked off the job in a 24-hour general strike over what they call a "deepening crisis" of rising prices and squeezed incomes, largely grounding to a halt public transport and disrupting schools and public hospitals.
The country’s two biggest labor unions – representing about 2.5 million public and private sector workers – called the general strike that was expected to culminate in protests in central Athens and other main cities.
The strike left ferries to and from Greek islands tied up in port, and left Athens without a subway, tram, trolley or suburban railway, while buses were to run for 12 hours from 9 a.m.
State-run hospitals were treating emergency cases only as health care workers joined the strike, demanding salary increases and measures to tackle rising prices.
More than 10,000 people marched through central Athens in two demonstrations, and about 9,000 protesters held marches in Greece’s second-largest city of Thessaloniki in the north.
Greece emerged from a decade of financial trouble in 2018, only for the coronavirus pandemic to bring global travel to a standstill two years later, hurting its vital tourism industry.
Now, soaring prices of energy and certain supermarket goods such as flour, exacerbated by sanctions against Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February, have further hurt workers’ pockets.
"For the last 14 years, workers have been bearing the burden of a deep crisis that affected the income and the lives of everyone," said the General Confederation of Greek Workers union, known by its acronym GSEE, referring to the Greek financial crisis that started in late 2009 and left the country dependent on international bailouts for a decade.
"As the years go by the crisis is constantly deepening, the burdens remain, our rights are shrinking. We are striking and demanding the government take measures here and now."
Greece’s annual consumer inflation surged to a 25-year high of 7.2% in February on the back of rising energy, housing and transportation costs.
The government has spent about 3.7 billion euros ($4 billion) since September to alleviate the burden of soaring energy and fuel costs for farmers, households and businesses.
For the striking workers, the measures do not go far enough.
GSEE said in March it had proposed a 13% increase in the monthly gross minimum wage to 751 euros due to soaring inflation.
The conservative government raised the minimum wage by 2% to 663 euros in January and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has promised a second, larger increase from May 1.