Protesters shout slogans as they march during a 24-hour general strike over rising consumer prices and housing costs, in Athens, Greece, November 20, 2024. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis
ATHENS (Reuters) - A general strike docked ships and disrupted rail and bus services across Greece on Wednesday, as thousands of workers marched in Athens to demand better pay and living standards.
Doctors, teachers, builders and transport workers from Greece's biggest private and public sector unions joined the walkout, which was triggered partly by the lingering impact of Greece's 2009-18 debt crisis and the high cost of living.
"Each time we go to the supermarket and each time electricity bills land, we suffer small heart attacks," said Stratis Dounias, a court employee who joined the march in Athens. "We want real measures against the high prices."
Protesters gathered in Syntagma Square in central Athens chanted "Workers' rights are the law" and waved banners that read "General strike against rising prices".
Greece's economy has rebounded since the debt crisis, but salaries lag the European average, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is among the lowest in the European Union, while the cost of goods has skyrocketed.
Many Greeks saw their wages and pensions slashed in return for bailouts worth 280 billion euros ($297 billion) during the debt crisis, which shaved a quarter off Greece's economic output and nearly pushed the country out of the eurozone.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' centre-right government has raised the minimum monthly gross wage four times since taking power in 2019, to 830 euros, and has promised to raise it to 950 euros by 2027. It has also increased pensions.
But Greeks say the rises are not enough as energy, food and housing costs continue to outpace salary and pension increases.
'INFLATION AFFECTS EVERYTHING'
"Today we are demanding that the government gives us back what they and the previous governments took from us in the last decade. Our buying power has been reduced by 50%, inflation affects everything," said pensioner Giorgos Skiadiotis.
GSEE, Greece's largest private sector union representing some 2.5 million workers, has blamed "oligopolies" for concerted practices it says keep driving up the cost of basic goods.
Mitsotakis acknowledged on Monday there was room for improvement with regard to wages and living standards and reiterated a call to the EU to help with discrepancies in the bloc's power prices.
The strike comes as the government submitted its final 2025 budget to parliament. It envisages economic growth of 2.3% next year, above the EU average, and includes extra spending of about 1.1 billion euros to help fund a rise in wages and pensions.
($1 = 0.9445 euros)
(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Additional reporting by Valentini Anagnostopoulou; Editing by Edward McAllister and Gareth Jones)
