What's going on in Greece?

On Thursday evening, the Greek Parliament voted through its latest austerity package – approved by all but one of the deputies from the ruling ‘social democratic’ party, PASOK. Tens of thousands of workers will now suffer dramatic wage cuts of 40%, the slashing of pensions and the tearing up of collective bargaining agreements, on top [...]

Greek students show solidarity

Over the past two years, the youth, students and workers (and waggy tailed comrades alike) of Greece have been inspirational in their struggle against both the police violence of the Greek state, and its huge austerity drive and IMF bail-outs. We looked on as the mass demonstrations against police brutality, after the shooting of 15 [...]

Strikes are good for tourists!

For the past few days employees of the Greek Ministry of Culture who work at the Acropolis in Athens have been on strike to protest the fact that they haven’t been paid properly for almost 2 years (!) and that they are due to be fired at the end of their short term contracts. Workers [...]

Millions of Europeans on strike and in the streets

You might not have noticed yesterday, what with the UK news much more concerned about what high paid cushy job David Miliband will be getting next, but across Europe millions of people were on strike and in the streets to protest the austerity policies of the EU governments. Just like the ConDem government here, governments [...]

What's crippling Greece is the IMF, not the General Strikes

By McMeg, additional writing by me, blogging fae Athens on today’s demonstrations protesting the Greek parliament’s vote to bring in destructive “austerity measures” in the wake of Greece’s near-financial collapse. Athens is a city that is acquiring a reputation for itself. When a taxi driver asked where we were headed with our suitcases, our response [...]

Munching for workers' rights

As Greece continues to face revolt from the working class at the IMF/EU takeover of their country, in the northern city of Thessaloniki, restaurant workers have decided to take things a step further at their work. The workers at the Barthelonika restaurant were told at the start of last month by the owner that he [...]

General strikes all across Europe: Why not here?

Yesterday there were general strikes in Greece and the Basque Country. Last week workers in France and Italy walked out as well. Across Europe the working class is waking up to the threat posed by the attacks of European governments, but in the UK the response has still been quite muted. SSY has been involved [...]

Another Greek general strike demands the right to a pension

Yesterday tens of thousands of Greeks were again in the streets in protest at the IMF/EU imposed package of attacks on the working class. Around 40,000 people demonstrated in Athens as part of another general strike, with thousands more in cities around Greece. The strike was timed to coincide with the debate in parliament over [...]

Meanwhile, in Greece

For the past couple of days Leftfield has been a bit distracted by the minor matter of whether the hated Tories are going to form an unelected government over Scotland. One of the consequences is we haven’t been able to bring you updates about what’s been going down in Greece since Wednesday’s general strike. Just [...]

Greek bank worker speaks out on deaths

During the massive protests against the IMF/EU assault on the Greek working class yesterday, a bank was burnt down, and three workers trapped inside were killed. This event has been mercilessly exploited over the course of the day by the Greek government, and by the right wing media, who are preparing the way for possibly [...]

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