ATHENS, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Public services in Greece were paralyzed on Tuesday as the umbrella Civil Servants Trade Union (ADEDY) staged a 24-hour nationwide strike against social security reforms proposed by the government.
Hundreds of thousands of commuters were left stranded as public transport services were disrupted, from buses and the metro to ferries, which remained docked at ports as seamen's unions joined the strike.
Thousands of protesters, including members of All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) and other labor unions, marched in central Athens chanting slogans against the draft bill that was submitted to parliament on Monday.
The bill foresees, among others, pension hikes for current retirees, who have suffered many rounds of cutbacks in recent years under the bailout programs (2010-2018). It would also bring under a unified national social security agency all civil service staff, together with private sector employees and the self-employed.
From now on, freelance professionals would be able to choose the level of their monthly contributions, which would determine the level of their future pensions.
Presenting the principles of the bill at a meeting of the Athens Chamber of Tradesmen, Greece's Labor and Social Affairs Minister Giannis Vroutsis said the bill had a social orientation, national news agency AMNA reported.
The new social security reform will help increase employment, boost entrepreneurship and reduce tax evasion, the minister argued.
Critics among demonstrators on Tuesday said that the bill falls far short of ensuring standards for a decent life for all current and future retirees, increases contributions disproportionately and shifts more burdens to employees, reducing the state's role in securing a minimum safety net for all.
"We stand against the government's plans aimed at the privatization of the insurance system, the further cutbacks (on pensions) and increases in age limits. Social insurance is a right. We will not allow private interests taking over control," Costas Catarahias, a doctor and president of the union of employees at the Agios Savvas state hospital, told Xinhua during the march.
Public hospitals operated on skeleton staff on Tuesday, as the unions of hospitals workers joined the labor action.
"Social insurance will be a private issue. There will be a sort of money box, which will not be enough though to cover your needs," noted Alexandra S., a pensioner who used to work at the National Bank of Greece.
She is among the 17,000-odd pensioners of the bank who have struggled in the past three years to receive their auxiliary pensions.
"The bank's administration has cut our auxiliary pensions for several months. This is a sample and part of the ongoing attack against insurance rights, which is orchestrated by the European Union and executed by the previous government of SYRIZA and the current government of New Democracy," she claimed.
The two sides have gone to courts to resolve the dispute over whether the bank should cover deficits of the employees' auxiliary pension fund.
Employees argue that it is the obligation of the bank and the state to cover gaps caused by the mismanagement of employee contribution funds.
Maria Xifara is a member of the Board of Directors in the union of current employees of the National Bank. "Substantially this (draft bill) deprives us of the right to get a pension. It (insurance contribution) is a part of our salary and we want to make sure it will not go to waste, it will not be stolen," she told Xinhua.
"We demand that they return to our insurance funds all this money that was stolen. This is our property and we have paid for this through contributions for years," she added.
