Mass Strike in Athens: Workers Demand Wage Increases Over Rising Costs

Workers from different sectors walked out on strike on Wednesday to fill Athens streets. This protest made all Greek transportation services stop. The demonstrators asked for big pay hikes to help people deal with rising costs in Greece. Athens ground to a complete stop during the strike because every airline, naval, railway, and municipal worker participated together. 

People had no way to travel by ferry or plane and all trains stopped running which trapped commuters at their destinations. Dina Gkogkaki a 52-year-old workers’ representative explains private sector workers receive their salaries only through the 10th to 15th of the month and cannot cover basic expenses like housing, eating, learning, and getting medical care.

Greece improved its financial standing and overcame its international debt problems which greatly affected it between 2009 and 2018. Since 2019 the current right-wing administration boosted the minimum wage rate by 35% to reach €880 per month. Labor unions feel the daily wage hikes do not keep up with the quick expansion of basic prices.

Although the government has set targets to boost wages to €950 by 2027 and reach €1,500 as the national average pay many Greeks do not trust these goals will be met. Greece has an average monthly wage of €1,342, but this salary level is 10% lower than what Greece earned when it began its first bailout deal in 2010.

People maintained their presence at Syntagma Square all day to show that Greek workers needed urgent solutions to their income vs expense problems.