General strike brings Greece to standstill on Wednesday

On Wednesday, during a 24-hour general strike, hundreds of flights into and out of Greece were cancelled and the country came to a standstill as all transportation workers walked off the job.

Bus, metro and rail workers went on strike at 10:00pm local time on Tuesday, as did air traffic controllers, in dispute over financial support for low-income families, pay levels and pension reform.

Striking workers were member of transport staff unions including the Civil Servants Supreme Administrative Council (ADEDY) and the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE). The walk out comes after four days of violent protests around the country that followed the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy by police on Saturday.

“Participation in the strike is total, the country has come to a standstill,” said a GSEE spokesman.

All airlines operating between the UK and Greece, Aegean Airlines, British Airways, easyJet and Olympic Airlines, have confirmed that all services to and from Greece are suspended until the end of the strike at 10:00pm Wednesday.

A spokesman for BA said the airline was hopeful that its full schedule could be resumed shortly afterwards, without any knock-on effect.

An Olympic Airlines spokesman also indicated that both inbound and outbound services should return to normal on Thursday.

Thanks to www.telegraph.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

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