Pame

Fears of a backlash prompted the Labor Ministry late on Monday night to call back stricter regulations for the operation of unions, particularly in regards to how they call strikes.

The government approved a clutch of pending prior actions in Parliament Friday with all 153 of the coalition's MPs backing the reforms in a bid to avoid any unpleasant surprises at a Eurogroup meeting planned for June 15.

About 15,000 Greeks participated in two rallies in the country's capital on Wednesday against EU-backed austerity measures proposed by the country's government, a Sputnik correspondent reported.

On Wednesday, the Greek workers held a nationwide general strike.

More than 85 percent of shops across Greece remained closed on Sunday, said the National Confederation of Greek Commerce (ESEE) which opposes reforms demanded by the country's international creditors.

Workers hit by lower living standards and high unemployment are expected to take part in May Day protests staged in Athens and other cities on Monday.

Greece's umbrella unions, the private sector's GSEE and the public sector's ADEDY, are organizing a rally at 11 a.m. in central Athens. It will start at Klafthmonos Square and end in front of Parliament on Syntagma Square.

The Communist Party-affiliated labor union, PAME, will hold a series of rallies around the country on Friday to coincide with the Eurogroup in Brussels.

The rally is planned for 6.30 p.m. and the union issued a statement saying the government has agreed to "further the slaughter of workers and their rights to social security."

Members of the Communist Party-affiliated PAME labor union will hold a rally outside the Hilton Hotel in Athens on Wednesday in protest at the talks being held there between the representatives of Greece's international lenders and government ministers and technocrats.

The Communist Party-affiliated labor union, PAME, is organizing a rally in central Athens on Thursday.

The event, to be held in Omonia Square at 10.30 a.m., will be a protest against evaluations and a so-called mobility scheme of forced transfers in the public sector. 

The KKE-affiliated PAME trade union has announced that it will hold a rally in central Omonia Square to protest the visit to Athens by US President Barack Obama on November 15.

The chapter of the ongoing trial against Golden Dawn related to an alleged attack by members of the far-right party against supporters of the communist-affiliated PAME union in September 2013 caused tension both inside and outside the Athens Appeals Court on Monday.