General strike brings Greece to standstill

Associated Press October 21, 2008

ATHENS, Greece: Air, rail and ferry traffic ground to a halt across Greece on Tuesday and public offices shut down as workers walked off the job in a general strike to protest the conservative government's economic policies.

Riot police fired tear gas to disperse a small group of rock-throwing hooded youths as thousands of demonstrators marched through central Athens. Many shops along the demonstration route rolled
down their shutters, and only minor damage was reported.

Across the country, state hospitals functioned with emergency staff
while state schools, universities, post offices and tax offices were
closed, as were many banks. Some 200 domestic and international flights
were canceled while all ferries were confined to port. The state
railway company canceled most train services.

Lawyers, journalists and civil engineers were also on strike.

Greece's largest umbrella union, GSEE, claimed hundreds of thousands of workers participated in the 24-hour strike.

"The country has effectively come to a halt," said union spokesman
Efstathios Anestis. "Participation is very high, in many sectors it
exceeds 90 percent of the work force."

GSEE, which covers the private sector, and civil service umbrella
union ADEDY called the strike to protest recent legislation reforming
the country's fragmented pension system. The new law, passed in March,
cuts back early retirement rights and merges lucrative pension funds
with financially troubled ones.

"We're expressing anger, despair and rage about the policies which give to the few," said GSEE leader Yiannis Panagopoulos.

The two umbrella unions represent some 2.5 million workers between them, or about half of Greece's total work force.

Unions also demand more state social spending, as well as salary and
pension increases, and oppose the government's privatization plans,
including for state carrier Olympic Airlines.

Commercial stores were to follow suit with their own strike on
Wednesday to protest tax laws, vowing to shut down stores across the
country for the day.