Traders to close shops and demonstrate
Store closures and large-scale demonstrations in Athens and Thessaloniki this fall will be the response of traders and manufacturers to the government’s social security policies. After a meeting with PASOK president George Papandreou yesterday, representatives of Greece’s General Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses and Traders (GSEVEE) announced it will hold protest rallies and close stores on September 3 and October 13, with more likely to follow. The group is protesting the new social security law and the problems created in the social security fund for the self-employed (OAEE). GSEVEE chief Dimitris Asimakopoulos said that OAEE is already suffering badly. «It is not threatened by collapse, it is already collapsing,» he said, citing its poor funding by the government and the indifference allegedly shown by the Employment Ministry. «We are certain that the conditions are being prepared for a drastic reduction in pensions in the next four months,» added GSEVEE general secretary Nikos Skorinis. Papandreou dubbed the new law «a threat to manufacturers,» which «puts their pension at risk.» He invited the government to return to negotiations in order to resolve OAEE’s problems. The PASOK leader said also that the party was committed to «the substantial, institutional and financial support of OAEE, covering all of the state’s obligations to the sector.»
