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Greek trade unions, primarily organised by the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) and civil service union ADEDY, organised country-wide protests against the latest round of austerity measures - including public sector lay-offs, taxes on workers, wage cuts and the elimination of employment protections. The Greek government has vowed to push the measures through the Greek Parliament.



The GSEE said the European Commission/European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund have forced more families into poverty with these new cuts, and demanded “policies to combat unemployment, and fight tax evasion rather than imposing new tax hikes on citizens who are already impoverished”.



UNI Global Union’s General Secretary, Philip Jennings said, “The Troika’s austerity measures are destroying the lives of millions of Greek workers. This later round of cuts could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. UNI joins with its Greek affiliates and the Greek people in saying enough is enough. Change course before more irreparable damage is done. Tackle tax avoidance amongst the rich and stop putting the burden on the workers and unemployed.”



ITUC General Secretary, Sharan Burrow said, “The austerity measures applied to Greece have been an abject failure. Further cuts will only deepen the catastrophic social situation and set the economy back even further. With two-thirds of young people now unemployed, this has been on of the most inept exercises of public policy in recent years. The authors of austerity have only managed to bring four years of recession”.