SOME 15,000 workers, youth and students marched through the Athens city centre last Thursday morning in two different demonstrations as part of the one-day general strike called by the GSEE (Greek TUC).
At the port of Piraeus, seafarers are continuing their strike, now for over a week, against tax hikes and labour laws. Thursday’s strike was solid in ports, railways, the shipyards, engineering and refineries. Rallies and marches were held in every single city and town in Greece.
In Athens over 10,000 workers, youth and pensioners participated in the Greek Communist Party organised march demanding an end to austerity. There were big delegations of engineers, apparel workers, local government, transport and press workers.
Some 5,000 workers and students took part in another march organised by several trade unions and left wing parties. Large delegations of teachers, hospital workers, cement workers and telecommunications workers took part.
On the day of the strike, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met with the Zionist leader Netanyahu in Israel from where he tweeted, ‘our relations with Israel are better than ever’!
Greece, Cyprus and Israel are forging a deal for the exploitation of gas in the Mediterranean to be carried out by American companies. The struggle of the seafarers is now a head on collision with the government.
Tax hikes on all Greek workers is a cornerstone demand of the EC-IMF-ECB lenders who want ever increasing austerity measures. At the Eurogroup last Monday they restructured the payments of the Greek debt (over 330bn euros) on a lower interest rate to last till 2060! Successive generations will have to work all their lives so that the bankrupt EU bankers get their money.
