Strikers in Greece rage at a system that puts profit before human lives

On the march in Chania on Crete (Pic: ergatiki on Facebook)

Boats have been docked, flights have been cancelled, and schools remain closed as tens of thousands of people take to the streets in Greece in a general strike. 

Workers are demanding wage increases, a curbing of inflation and a solution to the housing crisis. They are also calling for collective bargaining arrangements between workers and bosses to be reinstated—these were scrapped a decade ago when the government pushed through austerity measures.

The minimum wage has risen in recent years. But this is meaningless in comparison to the rate of inflation. Households are struggling to put meals on the table as the price of food, energy and other basics continues to rise.

While the Greek government claims it does not have the money to increase wages more than a meagre one euro a day, it recently announced a £21 billion defence plan. Workers are demanding an end to the “war economy”, where money is funnelled into killing people in the wars in Ukraine and Palestine while workers in Greece are squeezed.

The general strike is a continuation of the massive demonstrations earlier this year. February saw the biggest national strike in Greece since the fall of the dictatorship 50 years ago. Workers walked out on the two year anniversary of the Tempi rail disaster which killed 57 people. 

The government’s complicity in covering up the Tempi crash has become symbolic of the systematic failures of the Greek state. Many of the demonstrators have also drawn parallels with the racist murder of hundreds of refugees in the shipwreck at Pylos off the Greek coast in 2023. 

Whether it is refugees drowning in the Mediterranean, people in Gaza facing a genocide or deaths in hospitals in Greece, people are demanding the end to the system that puts profit before human lives. 

The weakness of the conservative New Democracy government has been laid bare by these recent protests. Prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis faced his third no confidence vote in as many years last month. He only remains in power because his party holds a parliamentary majority. 

Media workers have taken their action further, with multiple 24 hour strikes, including on the day before the general strike. They are demanding the return of collective bargaining amid worsening conditions, guaranteed pay for overtime and for a standardised introductory salary. They are also fighting a political battle against a government that is increasingly trying to control the media landscape. 

Workers are taking matters into their own hands rather than relying on the union leadership. 

The Greek Socialist Workers Party (SEK) have hailed today’s demonstrations as a “major milestone in the struggle” against the government. They have called for the strikes to escalate and have been involved in organising strike committees and general assemblies in workplaces to coordinate the action. 

They said, “We are fighting to overthrow the government of murderers and to open another perspective for the labour movement. It is a perspective that is not limited to the parliamentary solutions of the opposition, but on the contrary puts forward the workers’ way out.”