Food delivery workers in the POEET unions affiliated with the online delivery platform Efood in Greece have planned a work stoppage during the World Cup final on 19th July, demanding higher wages and improved working conditions.
In a statement, POEET said it is seeking the signing of a collective labour agreement that includes pay rises for all employees, including delivery riders, office staff, warehouse workers, and employees at Efood markets.
The union is also calling for a guaranteed minimum hourly wage, full coverage for work-related accidents, free personal protective equipment for zero hours delivery riders, and the option for them to convert their contracts into employment agreements if they choose.
The work stoppage will run from 7pm to midnight and will coincide with a protest gathering at the intersection of Athens’ Kifissias and Alexandras avenues, according to the union.
Established roughly 25 years ago, Efood works with thousands of stores in dozens of cities and towns across Greece.
The strike comes after Food and Tourism workers in Greece held a 24-hour nationwide strike on June 24, 2026.
Meanwhile, a large portion of Greek households are unable to meet the cost of basic needs, according to Eurostat’s living conditions indicators.
There has been intense pressure on family budgets, even before the economic impact of the war on Iran on the Greek market.
According to a Eurostat survey published last Thursday, just over one in two Greeks, or 50.5% of the population, could not meet unexpected expenses in 2025, such as repairs or doctors’ fees.
This marks an increase in financial insecurity compared to 2024 (43.9%) and constitutes the highest rate in the European Union. This is significantly higher than the bloc average, which stood at 29.2% in 2025.
In addition, for 46.6% of Greeks, even a week of holiday is beyond their financial reach, with this share having increased marginally compared to 2024.
This indicator is among the highest in the EU, putting Greece after Romania (61.4%), while it is well above the European average of 27.5%.
These findings are consistent with the broader picture recorded by Eurostat on living conditions in the country.
According to data for 2025, 27.5% of the population in Greece is at risk of poverty or social exclusion, the second-highest percentage in the EU after Bulgaria (29%).
Greece’s gross domestic product per capita in purchasing power parity (PPP) – an index used as a measure of living standards – was the lowest in the EU in 2025.
In last place in the bloc, together with Bulgaria, the purchasing power of Greeks was 32% lower than the European average and even slightly lower than in 2015, when the country was under a regime of strict austerity.
According to Eurostat data, in 2025 it reached 84% compared to the European average, showing an increase from the two previous years.
Elsewhere, in Germany Volkswagen workers staged protests nationwide last Thursday as unions warned of a ‘major conflict’ if the struggling German car giant pushes ahead with what could be the global auto industry’s biggest restructuring.
Europe’s largest carmaker has come under intense pressure from US tariffs, slimmer profit margins from electric vehicles and competition in China, the world’s largest auto market.
Thousands of job cuts have already been announced, but reports said chief executive officer Oliver Blume is considering increasing them to 100,000 and potentially closing four factories in Germany.
As Volkswagen’s management presented its planned cuts to the 10-brand group’s supervisory board, workers staged protests outside plants and unions warned they were ready to step up industrial action.
Thorsten Groeger, from IG Metall trade union, speaking at Volkswagen’s headquarters in Wolfsburg said: ‘Whoever takes on the workers is risking a major conflict.
‘We will not stand by and do nothing if the company does not change course.’
At one of the factories reportedly earmarked for closure in the eastern German city of Zwickau, about 200 workers joined a demonstration.
Thomas Knabel said: ‘This site will not be closed, not against our will. We will defend it.’
He waved banners reading: ‘United, fighting for our future.’
‘If the plant were to be shut down, it would be the death blow for the region,’ said Denise Tschiersch, who has worked at the factory since 1997 and sits on its works council.
‘This really is a dramatic situation.’
Volkswagen confirmed late on Thursday that it had presented its plans to the supervisory board, comprising a package of 12 measures.
These include reducing production capacity to nine million vehicles a year from 10 million currently, and cutting its model range by up to 50 per cent, Volkswagen said in a statement.
It made no mention, however, of potential job cuts or factory closures.
‘We are making the Volkswagen Group faster, more robust and more competitive,’ Blume said.
Volkswagen’s works council, an elected body representing staff interests, accused management of failing to provide sufficient information to employees and demanded last Friday that Blume ‘comment unambiguously’ on speculation about job cuts.
‘The way the board is treating the workforce is the height of disrespect,’ works council chief Daniela Cavallo said.
Volkswagen, whose brands include SEAT and Porsche, had planned to cut up to 50,000 jobs in Germany, including 35,000 at its flagship Volkswagen brand.
However, the outlook has since worsened prompting management to seek more sackings and factory closures.
Management is also reportedly seeking to spin off the Volkswagen brand as a separate company, which unions fear is an attempt to undermine existing protections for employees.
If the new plans are implemented, they would amount to a roughly 15% reduction in Volkswagen’s global workforce and eclipse all other major job-cutting programmes in the automotive industry.
Germany’s automotive industry, including Volkswagen’s peers BMW and Mercedes-Benz and their suppliers, has been struggling in recent years, with job cuts becoming more common.
US President Donald Trump’s tariff measures are costing Volkswagen billions of euros a year, while the carmaker is losing ground in China particularly in electric vehicles.
- Workers at IKEA Lakberendezési Kft in Hungary went on strike last Thursday, after several rounds of negotiations with the employer failed to produce an agreement. It is the first time in 36 years that workers at the company are going on strike in Hungary.
Throughout the talks, workers organised with trade union KASZ say they received only dismissive, delaying and evasive responses, with no meaningful progress.
Patience among the workforce has run out, and many employees feel the employer either does not understand their concerns – or does not want to.
- The 27 countries of the European Union have unanimously agreed to open a new cluster of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, marking another step in their arduous road to membership
During a meeting last Friday afternoon, ambassadors endorsed their common position. The news was confirmed by the Republic of Ireland, the country that currently holds the EU Council’s rotating presidency.
The formal ceremonies will take place separately on Tuesday, 14 July in Brussels.
Last Friday’s decision builds on the momentum generated by Hungary’s change of government, which ended two years of obstruction of Ukraine’s accession process.
The European Commission considers both Ukraine and Moldova to be technically ready to open all of them, which means it is up to politics to determine the next steps.
Kiev has publicly pushed to advance all steps before the summer break, a goal shared by the Commission and a majority of member states.
‘It’s important that we keep the momentum up,’ a diplomat said.
But Hungary’s Magyar tribes have expressed strong reservations about moving at such a pace, arguing it would be tantamount to ‘fast-tracked accession’ and undermine membership talks with the Western Balkans, which have been on the waiting line for much longer.
It is now virtually guaranteed that the July target will not be met and the remaining clusters will be tackled one by one from September onwards.
