Low pay/minimum wages, Precarious employment, Greece
Union movements organise protests over surge in inflation
With inflation increasing rapidly across Europe, trade union movements are mobilising to highlight the cost-of-living challenges facing workers, their families as well as pensioners and students. Latest figures show prices rising at anything from 6.5% to nearly 23% a year in Europe with further increases predicted. The CMKOS confederation in the Czech Republic is calling for a national demonstration in Prague on 5 September while the ÖGB confederation in Austria is coordinating protests around the country on 17 September. In between these two, the GSEE private sector and ADEDY public sector
Public services confederation calls 24-hour strike
ADEDY, the public service confederation, has called a 24-hour strike on 15 October. It has a wide range of demands starting with calls for increased funding for healthcare, filling vacancies and taking appropriate anti-COVID 19 action with provision of personal protective equipment and extension and increase in allowances for dangerous and unhealthy work. ADEDY also wants to see action across the public services to tackle staff shortages and recruit more workers on permanent contracts and to stop privatisation.
Confederation backs action to support health workers
The ADEDY public sector confederation called for a three-hour work stoppage on 16 June in support of action organised by the POEDIN and OENGE health unions. There was main demand for higher public spending on health with specific calls to address the 40000 vacancies in the sector, for permanent status for the 16000 workers on temporary contracts who have often been at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19, for higher pay - salaries start at only EUR 650 a month - and improvements in a range of allowances related to risk of infection, night work and holiday pay.
Strike in local government to defend contract workers
(July 2017) The POE-OTA local government workers' union, supported by the ADEDY public sector confederation, took strike action on 29 June in protest at a threat to 10000 jobs. The unions say that the Interior Ministry plans to cut 10000 contract workers' jobs as part of a package of cuts agreed in the latest negotiations with European lenders. The unions are calling for permanent jobs to be offered to all contract workers.