Greek Strikes Disrupt Flights
ATHENS, Greece – Striking Greek garbage collectors pelted riot police with trash on Wednesday during labor protests that disrupted flights and caused continued power outages across the country.
The scuffles took place outside the Labor Ministry in Athens as 5,000 demonstrators marched to Parliament in the latest of a string of protests against a planned overhaul of the country’s debt-ridden pension system.
No injuries or arrests were reported.
Passing the unpopular reforms has proved the first major test for the governing conservatives since their re-election by a narrow margin six months ago.
A weeklong strike by municipal workers has left thousands of tons of uncollected trash on streets throughout Athens.
The country’s largest labor union, GSEE, called a three-hour work stoppage Wednesday to coincide with a debate on the reforms by lawmakers at committee level.
Public transport in the capital was halted and state carrier Olympic Airways canceled 14 flights and rescheduled at least a dozen more. Several other airlines also rescheduled flights.
Lawyers, doctors, teachers and civil engineers are also on strike to protest the draft pension reforms, and GSEE and civil servants’ unions have called a 24-hour nationwide strike for March 19.
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis’ government says the state-guaranteed pension system could collapse within years without reforms.
The conservatives, who hold a one-seat majority in Greece’s 300-seat parliament, want to merge pension funds and cut early retirement benefits, insisting the proposed adjustments are relatively mild.