Administration, trade and transport will be disrupted on Wednesday in Greece, where trade unions have called a 24-hour strike, and demonstrations in Athens and other cities in the country against austerity measures and privatizations.
However, air traffic controllers’ union announced Tuesday that it had suspended the call for a 24 hour strike in order not to disrupt air traffic, vital for tourism, the main engine of the economy.
“We decided Monday night to suspend our movement because Greece is currently in full tourist season”, Anguelos Sotiropoulos, a member of the board of the union, told AFP.
The call for general strike is the third since the beginning of the year launched by the main trade unions in the country, GSEE (private) and Adedy (public) to denounce the new austerity and privatization plan to be voted by the end of June in order to reduce the debt and deficit of the country.
“Together, united to break the chains of the memorandum (austerity plan, Ed.)”, is the slogan of the two unions, written on their banners.
The new measures take place while the country’s creditors, the European Union and International Monetary Fund, discuss the possibility of a second financial aid to Greece and have difficulties in understanding how to unlock it.
Wednesday, the sea shipping will be heavily disrupted. Thus, no boat will go to the Greek islands of Aegean Sea (east) and the Ionian Sea (west) due to a strike called by seamen union.
The train transportation will not work, schools and ministries will be mostly closed. Urban transport will stop for three hours at the beginning and end of the day.