General strike in Greece on Thursday will disrupt public transport

Commuters are advised that there will be a public transport strike in Athens on Thursday 26 November.

The 24 hour strike will include buses, ferries, the tram and metro.

Workers are protesting the government's proposals for the abolition of the eight-hour day, the unpaid overtime, additional restrictions of strike action, the weakening the possibility for labor disputes and the reduced benefits for the unemployed.

STASY (Urban Rail Transport) workers’ union in its announcement said that “the employees of STASY. SA, from the first moment of the manifestation of the Covid-19 pandemic, we stood, responsibly, in the face of unprecedented conditions and with claims and proposals, we managed, under difficult conditions and despite adversity, to keep stable transport and to provide safe transport."

STASY employees said that they were "not willing to accept the use of the pandemic as a 'tool' for passing anti-labor legislation to trample decades of rights."

Air traffic controllers are also joining the strike. In response, Aegean airways and Olympic Air announced that they cancelled all flights on Thursday. Another two dozen international and domestic flights are rescheduled on Wednesday, when air traffic controllers will be holding a six-hour work stoppage.

Tram service to and from Syntagma resumes

The tram service to and from Syntagma Square recommenced on Friday, November 20.

It is recalled the tram’s service between Kasomouli Street in the Athens neighbourhood of Neos Kosmos and central Syntagma, was suspended in October 2018 amid concerns that the ground beneath the tracks, over the old Ilissos riverbed, was at risk of subsiding.