Defeating the very purpose of protest
Commuters in Athens were in for a nasty surprise yesterday: Those who had to use the metro and the Athens-Piraeus Electric Railway (ISAP), in order to avoid the traffic congestion on roads in the center, headed for the stations only to find the doors closed. Employees broke the law by deciding to strike without issuing any prior warning. Those who had been informed by the media that the metro would be operating as normal, naturally took on the media for failing to inform them of the strike action. Some electronic media asked permission from ESIEA, the journalists’ union, to report the breaking news. The request was turned down. As a result, thousands of commuters were left stranded by the unexpected strike and their annoyance was mostly directed against the media. Union leaders must answer one simple question. What have the metro and ISAP workers won from their illegal strike? And what have journalists won by failing to broadcast the breaking news, except for arousing people’s justified anger?
