Greece’s civil servants’ federation ADEDY this week declared a 24-hour nationwide strike for Tuesday, May 21, in reaction to what it called the increasing cost of living.
The federation is calling for a 10% increase in civil servant salaries to address the soaring energy, fuel, and basic goods prices. Other demands include the return of annual bonuses, collective labor agreements to protect employees, the abolition of 2016-2017 wage freeze, increasing the tax-deductible ceiling to 12,000 euros a year, increasing hazardous duty pay, and dropping a 2% duty for the unemployed.
ADEDY is also calling on the government to hire permanent employees in “critical” public services, such as in the health, education and social services sectors.
The strike will affect all public services including certain mass transit systems. Industrial actions in the latter are what usually affect the public, as participation in ADEDY’s strikes in the wider public sector is very low.
In March, the inflation rate in Greece increased to 3.4% up from 3.1% in February and above the EU average putting pressure on households.
