Strike action

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 online store giant "Amazon" faces a hard black Friday in Italy and Germany, where the company's distribution center staff will strike today. Italy will be hit by a major distribution center whose employees will insist on better wages and working conditions in a key sale day.

There will be no service on the Athens metro on Tuesday, as workers announced a 24-hour strike on Friday in opposition to the government's privatization plans.

"We will not allow urban transport to be put on the selling block of profit," the metro workers' union, SELMA, said.

Hundreds of thousands of citizens are being inconvenienced by the frequent strike action disrupting Athens metro services with no end in sight to the stoppages. 

A small group of privileged employees is wreaking havoc with the commutes of workers in the broader area of the Greek capital, and seem to be doing so with sadistic fervor. 

A three-hour walkout by Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) staff on Monday morning is to cause disruptions to train services across the country as well as some cancellations.

The action, which will start at 10 a.m., will also disrupt suburban railway services and the Athens metro's connection to Athens International Airport.

The union of contract workers at Greece's Asylum Service are staging a two-day strike on Wednesday and Thursday to demand permanent jobs and payment of their wages for September.

In a statement on Tuesday, the union said there is concern that 100 contract workers stand to lose their jobs and warned that it will escalate strike action.

There is a lot that can be said - and none of it good - about the strike by workers on the Athens metro on Thursday that caused so many problems not just for thousands of commuters but also motorists who ended up stuck in traffic jams. 

Employees at press distribution companies will hold a 24-hour strike on Friday protesting layoffs in the sector.

Workers have planned a rally outside the Labor Ministry in Athens on Thursday at 6.30 p.m.

Thousands of government officials will strike across France, with around 130 demonstrations planned in 90 of the country's 96 departments, Mediapool said.

For the first time in a decade, the nine French trade unions, representing public sector employees, have called for strike today against "negative" government employment reforms, the French version of the "Local" website reported.

There will be no service on Athens's ISAP electrical railway from noon to 3 p.m. on Monday as workers walk off the job.