Local authority workers hold demonstration in Athens

The POE-OTA union representing local authority workers is to stage a demonstration on Friday morning outside the capital's main court complex in solidarity with 35 of its members who are to face trial for their part in an anti-austerity protest in 2011.

In a statement issued Thursday, the union said the fact that the workers still face trial despite six years of appeals that have been rejected constitutes an attempt to "terrorize" unionists and "criminalize" the struggles of local authority workers.

In a related development, POE-OTA has called on Interior Minister Panos Skourletis to protect their labor rights, claiming that Administrative Reform Minister Olga Gerovasili has undermined them.