Fresh Transport Strike Hits Greece

Employees at Greek public-transport companies walked off the job Thursday in a 24-hour strike that has led to early-morning traffic chaos on the streets of Athens.

During the morning rush hour, television images showed traffic jams stretching for kilometers on different main arteries of the city as Athenians resorted to private transport to get to work.

The strike, which has affected bus, trolley, tram and subway services, is the second all-day strike by public-transport employees this week and comes after a nationwide common strike Wednesday that paralyzed the country and led to violent protests in Athens. Rail workers at the national railroad company, OSE, are also striking Thursday.

Greek Public Transport Workers Hold Second Strike Amid Wage Cuts

Public transport in Athens and train services across Greece shut down for a second 24-hour strike in less than a week as the government prepare to push through wage cuts to meet pledges in a 110 billion-euro ($147 billion) bailout package.

The metro in the Greek capital, used by 620,000 people every day, along with buses, trolleys and trams, won’t run at all today. Intercity trains are also canceled. The strike will be repeated on Dec. 16 and follows a series of walkouts since Dec. 8. ADEDY, the largest public-sector union, and General Confederation of Labor, or GSEE, Greece’s biggest private- industry union, will hold a three-hour walkout today, before a planned common strike tomorrow.

Public transport employees wages will be trimmed at least 10 percent under a bill to be voted on in parliament later today as Prime Minister George Papandreou deepens cuts to meet targets under the European Union-led rescue package.

Greek Strike Disrupts Public Transport

A three day strike by Greek seamen combined with a three-hour work strike by public and private-sector unions protesting the government's austerity measures disrupted public transport across capital Athens on Thursday.

Coastal ferries and passenger ships remained docked at ports across the country for the second consecutive day after the Panhellenic Seamen's Federation extended its strike for extra 48 hours.

Hundreds of little Greek islanders without airports had no other means of access to the mainland due to the strike that began on Tuesday. The industrial action left medication and food supplies unattended in trucks and containers at ports.

The seamen are demanding job protection, creation of an independent unemployment fund and a two per cent increase in wages.

ADEDY, the main union for public employees, called a three-hour work stoppage beginning 12 noon and a protest rally outside the Parliament. GSEE, Greece's private-sector union representing two million workers, also joined the stir.