Greek Unions Vow Protest Monday Over Austerity Measures
(it seems Greek state workers arrogance knows no bounds)
By Costas Paris and Nick Skrekas
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Less than two hours after the Greek government Sunday announced a raft of new austerity measures needed to access aid from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, local unions are vowing that they will protest and strike as soon as Monday, promising a social explosion on Athen's streets.
"We will start our new struggle with protests on Monday, Tuesday and the strike on Wednesday. We will fight for as long as it takes against this giant injustice," Spyros Papspyros, the president of the public sector umbrella union ADEDY, told to Dow Jones.
Public servants were hit hardest by the measures. They will loose their so-called bonus wages, or the equivalent of two months' pay above the usual 12 months. That will be replaced by a payment of EUR1,000 per year, but only for those with gross wages of less than EUR3,000 a month.
"The measures will set off a volcanic eruption in terms of public reaction," Papaspyros said. "Our income is being further cut, there will be thousands of layoffs and the cost of living will increase through the new taxes."
He fears living standards will fall to what they were 20 years ago.
In yesterday's May Day protest rallies an unprecedented number of people poured onto the streets of Athens. The mainly non-violent gatherings denounced the new austerity measures that they knew would come today. Estimates of the number of participants vary, with unions claiming 80,000 and the police downplaying the number at 20,000. But it was still many times more than the usual participation ay May Day gatherings of about 7,000.
Family groups--composed of Mums, Dads and their children--who have never before taken to the streets chanted "get out to the IMF and European junta." And it appears they may be staying on the streets for a long time to come.
The government has appealed for understanding from the public, arguing that it had no choice but to impose the unprecedented austerity measures. It says the measures are a strict precondition for activation of the three-year bailout package. But unions and opposition political parties are not convinced.
"Although the measures for the private sector are not as heavy as the ones announced for the public sector, they are still the harshest attack on the labor movement in the country's modern history," Stathis Anestis, spokesman for the private sector umbrella union GSEE, told Dow Jones.
GSEE argues Greek banks will receive aid funds while "workers are sentenced to misery," and it intend to fight back, starting with a combined strike on Wednesday by a majority of local unions that may paralyze the country.
"It will be the first of many strikes. We still believe that our action will bring results," Anestis added.
The main opposition conservative party is unlikely to politically support the socialist government over the new measures.
"This is the epitaph of a government that made a budget deficit crisis into a borrowing crisis and because of these measures we are facing an explosion of unemployment and severe social unrest," Christos Staikouras, Deputy Head of Economic Affairs for New Democracy, told Dow Jones.
A leading business group, the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said in a statement: "The responsibilities of the current Prime Minister George Papandreou are enormous. This is an outrageous attack on entrepreneurism, as well as workers and pensioners."
Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said today that assumptions for growth have been revised downward in light of the new measures. The government expects the economy to contract by 4% this year and by 2% in 2011. In previous plans put together just three months ago, the economy was seen contracting by just 0.3% this year.
"People must show that they don't swallow these government lies," said Aleka Papariga, general secretary of the far-left Greek Communist Party.
She fears even more measures to come if state revenues don't increase and expenses are not contained. The Communist Party controls the most vocal union, PAME, which draws on its committed supporters to organize the largest protest rallies.
"Let's not hide behind our finger, these are the most difficult measures in Greece's modern history," said a cabinet minister who asked not to be named.
"For the government, it was a choice between the country's survival and its demise, but that survival will depend on whether the Greeks will accept the measures - it will come down to Greek patriotism," he added.
By Costas Paris and Nick Skrekas, +30 210 2830 685; costas.paris@dowjones.com |
