Angry they weren’t consulted over a government plan to start firing public workers in some of the lowest-paid sectors: janitors, school crossing guards, municipal police and teachers – mayors from across Greece said they shut down their town halls and municipal services from July 15-17 in protest.
The Parliament on July 16 is set to vote on a package of some 100 reforms demanded by international lenders in return for rescue aid that include the eventual dismissal of some 27,500 public employees. Three years of austerity measures have created a record 26.9 percent unemployment rate in the private sector but this is the first time a Greek government has gone en masse against public workers.
Yiannis Boutaris, the mayor of Thessaloniki, the country’s second-largest city, earlier said he would quit in protest but hasn’t said if he will follow through with that. The move is being made by the fragile coalition government led by Prime Minister and New Democracy Conservative leader Antonis Samaras and his partner, PASOK Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos, who was named Deputy Prime Minister as a reward for withdrawing his objection to the firing of workers.
Greece’s Central Union of Municipalities voted July 12 to take the July 15-17 action as parliament prepared to vote on the new measures next week demanded by bailout creditors for Athens to receive a new batch of emergency loans worth 6.8 billion euros ($8.9 billion). The protest is considered unusual because strikes are typically called by unions that represent employees.
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