NEWS

General strike in protest at ERT’s closure to affect transport, flights

Public transport and state services will be disrupted on Thursday as thousands of workers join a 24-hour snap general strike called on Wednesday by the country’s two main labor unions, GSEE and ADEDY, in protest at the conservative-led government’s surprise decision to shut down ERT.

Buses, trolley buses and trains will not be running at all, while staff on the Athens metro, the Athens tram and the Piraeus-Kifissia electric railway (ISAP) will run a reduced service, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. There will be no metro service to Athens International Airport, with trains stopping as Doukissis Plakentias station as the remaining section of metro route to the airport is operated by the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) whose workers will be striking all day.

International flights are expected to be disrupted between 3-5 p.m. when air traffic controllers are to walk off the job. A five-hour walkout by staff of the Civil Aviation Authority, starting at noon, is expected to disrupt domestic flights.

The general strike, which is the third this year, will also upset public services, closing tax offices and schools, and leaving hospitals to operate on emergency staff.

A protest rally organized by GSEE and ADEDY is to be held outside ERT’s

headquarters in Aghia Paraskevi, northeastern Athens, at 11 a.m. The unions called on workers from all sectors to join them to show solidarity for the sacked ERT workers, condemning the government’s move as “unprecedented and provocative.”

There will also be a media blackout as journalists will be on strike.

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