Is strike day a pay day?
Administrative officials at Greece?s public transport companies and other state-owned enterprises refuse, absolutely, to answer one simple question: Are the employees of these companies who have been holding and continue to hold ongoing strikes being paid regular wages from the public coffers for the days when they walk off the job?
It would only be reasonable to assume that they are not being paid. No one is arguing against striking; it is, after all, a right that is firmly entrenched in democracy. But paying workers for striking, especially those at public companies, presents a lot of problems. There is no justification for doing so and, if it is the case, then we are up against a new first.
Taxpayers here in Greece are already at the end of their tethers with all the problems they have had to face as a result of the ongoing strike action coupled with austerity measures and price hikes across the board. If they realize that they are also paying the wages of people who are striking, they will surely become indignant as well.
