The Greek riot police stormed the transport train depot earlier on Friday morning in order to enforce a government emergency order that forces striking the workers back to work. Authorities distributed the notifications to the workers, and they are now obliged to respond once they receive the document. After breaking through the gates and removing dozens of strikers in the pre-dawn raid, riot police blocked off all the roads leading to the depot to prevent supporters and the press from gathering near the facility.
Inside the workers had barricaded themselves in the depot Thursday night, but when the police stormed in they did not put up any resistance, and no violence was reported.
On Thursday the government issued a civil mobilisation order under which workers refusing to return to work risk dismissal, arrest and even prison. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras sent a clear message that the government will not be led to a compromise or yield under the pressure of industrial action by public transport workers.
"The Greek people have made sacrifices. Huge sacrifices. I cannot allow any exceptions. The mass transport means are not the property of sector trade unionists. They belong to the people who have the right to use them and not be faced with inconvenience all day long. Let this be clear to everybody: past mistakes will not be repeated!”Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou told state-run NET television he expected the metro to be operating “as soon as possible,” estimating that trains would begin running again by the weekend. Defending the government’s decision to invoke a rarely-used law to end the strike, Kedikoglou insisted the new austerity measures must be implemented.
We are a society, an economy, at a very difficult time,” he said. “People can’t ask for exceptions.But wouldn't you know it, the unions, under the protection of the radical left SYRIZA party, accused the government of using dictatorial tactics.
The strike has been met with exasperation from commuters, many of whom are suffering cuts to their own incomes. Besides, thousands of Athens commuters were stranded and forced to walk or take taxis home through traffic-clogged streets.
What baffles most Greek citizens the most is why are Leftist parties supporting these workers, when they know that the Head of the Armed Forces makes less than some of these maintenance and transport workers whose skills cannot even be compared to that of the head of the Greek armed forces. But that is not all, University Professors, doctors and even leading scientists who are working for the state have endured wage cuts and are being paid less than these workers.
The new single salary scale will apply for the entire public sector with no exemption, as it will help eliminate the existing disparities, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras made clear after a working meeting on Thursday evening with the Prime Minister. He added his discussion with Samaras focused on economic policy, and that he briefed the premier on developments regarding the Eurogroup and the prerequisites on receiving the next bailout loan tranches.
Earlier, the head of the metro workers’ union, Antonis Stamatopoulos, proposed that employees call off their strike if the government agreed to pay them according to their collective contract, which lasts until April, and hold wage discussions (or re-negotiate new wages) in parallel. Metro employees, who have already had their salaries cut, stand to lose an average of less than 20 percent of their wages.
Samaras held lengthy talks with Development Minister Costis Hatzidakis before announcing the government's final decision.
On hearing of the news, Stamatopoulos accused the government of being a “junta” and said that the protesting workers who had gathered at the metro’s main depot in Sepolia would not be brought out of there alive.
Meanwhile, Greece’s main private sector union, GSEE, also backed the action and two senior SYRIZA MPs, Panayiotis Lafazanis and Dimitris Stratoulis, visited the depot to express their political party's support to the strikers.
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