By Renee Maltezou
ATHENS (Reuters) -Greek trains, ferries and taxis were halted on Wednesday as thousands of workers, including teachers and seafarers, marched to parliament in Athens in a one-day general strike against labour reforms and a government plan to allow employers to extend working hours.
The action was organised by Greece’s largest private and public trade unions who say that the government bill, which would allow employers to seek up to 13 hours of work a day from their staff compared with the current eight, even for private sector workers with one job, hurts workers’ rights.
“We are here to say no to a monstrous bill,” said Dimitra, a 24-year-old sales assistant who joined the demonstrations in capital Athens. “Stop it! We are not machines.”
“No to slavery,” read one of the banners held by protesters.
The draft law, which also gives employers more flexibility on short-term hirings and amends rules on annual leave in the private sector, is expected to be submitted to parliament for its approval this month.
The government says the planned reform is not obligatory and will apply only for up to 37 days a year. It says that it offers workers the chance to get 40% overtime payments and that it comes following employers and workers’ demands for a more flexible labour market.
But unions say it will increase pressure on workers in Greece, which is emerging from the 2009-2018 debt crisis that slashed wages and pensions and caused unemployment to skyrocket.
While the economy is recovering and living standards have improved after a series of minimum wage hikes, Greeks still trail their European peers in purchasing power on rising housing and food costs.
Public sector workers say the government should increase wages instead. “This bill only extends the exploitation of workers, smashes labour rights and our families’ incomes,” said Veta Papoutsakou, 65, a public sector union representative.
(Reporting by Renee Maltezou and Angelos Tsatsis; Writing by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Edward McAllister, Ed Osmond and Hugh Lawson)
