Greeks go on general strike demanding higher pay

ATHENS — Ships docked at Greek ports, and railway and bus services were disrupted on Wednesday as transport workers, hospital doctors, school teachers together with construction workers joined a nationwide strike to protest squeezed living standards and demand higher pay.

Many Greeks saw their wages and pensions slashed in return for bailouts worth 280 billion euros ($297 billion) during a 2009-2018 debt crisis which shaved a quarter off Greece’s economic output and nearly pushed the country out of the eurozone.

With the Greek economy recovering steadily since 2018, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ center-right government has raised the minimum monthly gross wage four times since taking power in 2019 to 830 euros a month and has promised to raise it further to 950 euros by 2027.

However, the Greeks say the rises are not enough and their salaries — which still fall behind the European average — do not last them a month as energy, food and housing costs escalate faster.

“Prices and rents have skyrocketed, while wages are at a low point,” read the strike poster of GSEE, Greece’s largest private sector union, which called for immediate and substantial pay rises for workers struggling with what it said was an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis.

GSEE — which represents some 2.5 million workers in Greece — also asked for government action against oligopolies whom it blamed for concerted practices that drove the cost of basic goods higher.

Workers were expected to protest in central Athens later on Wednesday.

Mitsotakis acknowledged on Monday there was room for improvement concerning wages and GDP per capita and reiterated a call to the EU to help with discrepancies in power prices that he said saw Greeks paying far more than other countries in the bloc.

The strike comes as the government submits later on Wednesday its final 2025 budget to the 300-seat parliament for debate before a vote due next month.

The draft budget sees economic growth of 2.3% next year and higher tax revenues thanks to expanding digital payments and booming property sales.