Greek workers on strike demand higher wages

On Wednesday, November 20th, Greece experienced disruptions on its rail and bus lines, as transport workers, doctors, school teachers and construction staff joined a national-wide strike protesting against declining standards of living and demanding higher wages, Reuters reports

“Many Greeks saw their wages and pensions slashed in return for bailouts worth 280 billion euros ($297 billion) during a 2009-2018 debt crisis which shaved a quarter off Greece's economic output and nearly pushed the country out of the Eurozone,” the news agency states.

After the Greek economy started recovering in 2018, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' government has raised the minimum monthly gross wage four times since taking power in 2019: to 830 Euros a month and promised to raise it to 950 Euros by 2027.

But the Greeks say it’s not enough; their wages which are still lower than the Europan average, do not last them a month as energy, food and housing costs rise faster.