Thousands protest in Athens as strike over wages halts ships, planes and trains

By Angeliki Koutantou and STAMOS PROUSALIS

ATHENS (Reuters) - Thousands of Greeks gathered in Athens on Wednesday to demand higher wages to cope with rising living costs and a one-day strike left ferries docked at ports, flights grounded and trains at a standstill.

Along with air traffic controllers, seafarers and train workers, municipal workers and bus and metro workers in the capital also walked out.

Greece has emerged from a 2009-2018 debt crisis which led to rolling cuts in wages and pensions in turn for bailouts worth some 290 billion euros. Economic growth, seen at a 2.3% this year, is now outpacing other eurozone economies.

The conservative government has increased the monthly minimum wage by a cumulative 35% to 880 euros since 2019. But many households still struggle to make ends meet amid fast-rising food, power and housing costs, Greece's largest labour unions say.

"The workers' salary only gets us through the 10th or the 15th day of the month, it cannot cover basic needs, such as housing and food, education and health," said private sector workers' representative Dina Gkogkaki, 52, who joined the protests in the central Syntagma Square on Wednesday.

The General Confederation of Greek Workers, which represents more than 2 million private sector employees, says that Greek workers are buying 10% fewer goods compared to 2019 due to inflation and has called for substantial pay rises and collective labour contracts.

Greece's minimum salary in terms of purchasing power was among the lowest in the European Union in January, behind Portugal and Lithuania, Eurostat data showed.

At 1,342 euros a month, the average gross salary still stands 10% lower than in 2010, when Greece signed up to its first bailout, according to labour ministry data.

The country is outperforming its 2% primary surplus targets, leaving some room for some wage increases, but the government says it must be fiscally prudent to limit interest levied on its debt, which is still the highest in the euro zone.      

It has promised to bring the minimum wage up to 950 euros by 2027, as it targets an average gross monthly salary of 1,500 euros, closer to the EU average. But monthly expenses for food, utilities and housing have been growing fast. 

"It's a gap that keeps getting bigger because of price hikes and inflation that affects energy and medicines," said Angelos Galanopoulos from the Seafarers Union.

Public sector workers, who were hit by measures to reduce a spendthrift state, have joined the strike, demanding annual bonuses that were scrapped over the past decade.

"Our wages are stuck at 2011 levels, without Christmas and Easter bonuses, and sometimes without proper working rights," said Diana Liakou, 58, a kindergarten tutor.

Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis told an economic conference in Delphi, Greece that he shared Greek workers' concerns, but that reducing taxation was still a key priority for the government.

(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou, Renee Maltezou and Lefteris Papadimas; Editing by Toby Chopra and Philippa Fletcher)