Unions in Greece call widespread strikes, seeking a return to bargaining rights axed during bailouts

Protesters hold banners during a rally in Athens, Greece, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. A 24-hour strike called by Greece's largest labor union has halted ferries and public transport services in the Greek capital and other cities, to press for a return of collective bargaining rights axed more than a decade ago during a severe financial crisis. Writing on the banner with a red line across the face of Greece's Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, reads in Greek; Killer Government / We Will Overturn It. [AP/Thanassis Stavrakis]

Strikes called by Greece's largest labor union halted ferries, disrupted public transport services and left some state-run hospitals running on emergency staffing levels in Athens and elsewhere Wednesday.

The General Confederation of Greek Labor, GSEE, led the strikes to press for a return of collective bargaining rights axed more than a decade ago during a severe financial crisis.

Several thousand protesters, chanting "Our rights are not utopia," attended a demonstration in central Athens which ended peacefully. Public park workers also joined the strike and protests, along with food delivery drivers who rode past parliament on motorbikes, holding up red smoke flares.

Police said some 4,000 protesters joined a rally Wednesday in Greece's second-largest city, Thessaloniki.

The 24-hour strikes also disrupted national rail services. Flights at Greek...

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