ATHENS, June 26 -- Tones of garbage are piling up in Athens and other major cities as a nationwide protest against job cuts called by unions representing municipal sanitation workers entered its second week on Monday.
The government and strikers have failed to reach a deal in several rounds of talks, fuelling public health concerns especially amid rising temperatures.
An Athens prosecutor launched on Monday a probe into whether anyone should be charged of putting into risk public health, Greek national news agency AMNA reported, as the latest symbolic march of protesters in the center of Athens ended inconclusive.
Greece's local authority staff union federation POE-OTA launched the protest last week, after a court ruled against the new extension to late 2017 of the short- term contracts of more than 10,000 people working in trash collection in municipalities throughout Greece.
POE-OTA responded with work stoppages, strikes, and sit-in protests at landfills, demanding permanent employment of workers to replace the fixed-term contracts, which put workers in risk of being fired in a country suffering chronic unemployment of about 25 percent of the working force.
However, the proposal the Interior Ministry submitted to the parliament on Monday for hiring of 2,500 permanent municipal sanitation workers, was immediately rejected by POE-OTA as insufficient.
"Given that sanitation services are a daily operation in urban centers, we request permanent personnel earning salaries allowing them to make a living with dignity. There is no need for short-term workers which are recycled by governments and mayors under the formula 'You leave, you are hired'. As a result, each time people are offered fewer workers' rights and smaller wages," Christos Panagiotopoulos, a protesting worker told Xinhua on Monday.
With the protest going on, tones of garbage are piling up in cities' streets. And the rising temperature, which soared to 38 degrees Celsius in the mainland, made the situation worse.
Although the situation is becoming more and more hard to bear, POE-OTA President Nikos Trakas told Xinhua that protesters are determined to continue and step up their mobilization.
And a 24-hour strike and a new rally in Athens was called for Thursday.
"We ask people to stand by our side, to support our struggle. We are doing whatever we can. We cannot allow citizens to be forced to pay three or four times higher for the garbage collection. There is no other road for us. We call on all employees nationwide to participate in Thursday's labor action," Trakas said.
POE-OTA argues that the government plans to replace the short-term workers for garbage collection with private firms.
Manolis Skoulas, a former construction worker who has struggled with unemployment after the sector collapsed during the seven-year debt crisis, is one of the temporary workers facing the prospect of dismissal.
"Work is all we are asking for, what is self-explanatory across the world, just job positions so we can feed our families," he told Xinhua during Monday's protest.
Skoulas has two underage children. They barely make ends meet each month. He has been working as a sanitation worker in municipalities since 2011.
"Now all of the sudden, we face the sack. If I will be fired tomorrow I do not know what to do. I'm 51 years old. Nobody will hire me in the private sector. They prefer young people, cheaper working hands," he said.
名师指导:SAT写作理论四步走
高效备考SAT写作的四条建议
SAT考试写作满分范文鉴赏(6)
SAT写作高分备考经验
备考辅导:SAT优秀作文欣赏(17)
实用备考资料:SAT写作经典句型汇总(2)
考生心得:SAT写作高分五点经验
实用备考资料:SAT写作经典句型汇总(1)
备考辅导:SAT优秀作文欣赏(3)
教你正确的SAT写作步骤
备考辅导:SAT优秀作文欣赏(21)
SAT写作六大法则及实例指导
新SAT作文题目分析和总结
SAT写作:如何在结尾部分出奇制胜
SAT写作:六大词汇使用难点解析
如何各个击破SAT写作难关?
SATI写作重点
解析美国高考SAT写作部分
SAT写作:快乐的写作 创意的写作
SAT作文知多少!(二)
备考辅导:SAT优秀作文欣赏(5)
备考辅导:SAT优秀作文欣赏(2)
名师指点:SAT写作权威指导
SAT作文素材:Henri Bergson’s The Creative Mind
实用资料:SAT写作常用开头汇总
SAT写作考试答题需要注意什么?
Approaches to the Writing Section
实用备考资料:SAT写作经典句型汇总(3)
SAT优秀范文欣赏及点评1(附译文)
SAT写作指导:活用名人名言(1)
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |