General strike Wednesday, media strike Tuesday

The general strike ca;;d by civil servants federation ADEDY and private sector umbrella trade union GSEE for Wednesday, 9 April will shut down both the private and the public sector. Furthermore, teachers, pharmacists and hospital doctors will be on strike, which means hospitals will be operating on skeleton crew and few pharmacies will be open for emergencies.

Transportation will be the biggest victim of the strike, with ships being docked, railroads not making routes, trolley buses not moving and metro trains stopping at the Doukissis Plakentias station.

Electric railways, buses and trams will be fully functional but with fewer routes, since employees there have been conscripted by the government. Flights will continue, since air traffic controllers decided to cancel their strike after meeting with transportation minister Michalis Chrysohoides.

The Panhellenic Seamen's Federation (PNO) will also participate in the 24-hour general strike. The decision followed lengthy talks between PNO's management and a delegation from the Association of Passenger Shipping Companies (SEEN) on the signature of new collective labour agreements for seamen on passenger vessels, after the previous ones expired at the end of 2013. However they did not reach an agreement.

Τhe Port Employees Federation of Greece (OMYLE) and the Dockworkers' Union-Port of Piraeus launch labour actions as of Monday against the privatisation of ports.

As usual, two rallies are organized in downtown Athens. The most massive one is taking place Wednesday morning at 11am in Klafthmonos square, organized by the two biggest umbrella unions. The second rally starts one hour earlier in Omonoia and is organized by the PAME union controlled by the Communist party, which traditionally goes it alone in rallies.

The general strike is called by both public and private employees unions and is a reaction to the government's reforms in both the labor market and labor relations.

Journalists and mass-media employees participate in the general strike, through a 24-hour strike starting on Tuesday at 6:00 am, demanding the signing of new collective labour agreements. They also demand an increase in unemployment allowance and the return of social security funds' reserves that were severly eroded by PSI.

Judicial and correctional employees have also decided to participate in Wednesday's general strike, with the courts and prisons all over Greece to operate only with emergency personnel. According to the Federation of Correctional Employees (OSYE), relatives of convicts and their attorneys will not be able to visit them on Wednesday, while prisons will also not transport or accept new inmates.