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Victoria Mindova

"We do not want a new government or a referendum. We want a change in politics," said the president of the union of employees in the metropolitan public transport Michalis Yagouris. They are preparing for a new wave of strikes and have announced a five-hour protest on Wednesday, which will convene the trade union board to decide on the further actions of employees in transport companies.

Trade union leaders will explain to the employees what the new law will bring as it has established new lower salaries in compliance with the pay roll table and redundancies under the labour reserves. Then, it will become clear whether transport strikes will paralyze Athens again. However, it is not clear, against whom they will protest because Greek political analysts insist that the government of the failed Socialist George Papandreou will not last until the end of the week.

Recent events do not make trade union leaders confident and they believe that a referendum on the European future of Greece is beyond the issues that require an immediate solution. Furthermore, the signals Michalis Yagouris has got so far from opposition parties do not give hope that something in the economic policy will change, even if a new government comes. "We want to know what will happen to our jobs, to our wage levels and the companies we are working in," said the transport trade unionist. He said that the measures taken so far did not imply real recovery of transport companies. About 1,200 people of about 9,000 employees in the underground, the electric train, buses, trolleys and trams were fired last year. With the introduction of the labour reserves, their number will increase. "If they have a plan how the companies will be managed with fewer people at lower salaries, let them tell us," said the trade unionist, adding, "but to only cut staff without a plan how to manage transport is not a solution."

GRReporter asked for the opinion of one of the largest trade unions in Greece, the union of civil servants. They had also defied to go on a nationwide strike in the first third of November and to protest against the economic policies pursued by George Papandreou’s government. The unexpected "bomb" of the referendum on whether Greece should remain in the eurozone and accept the debt haircut and the new financial aid from Europe has just muddle the public waters. They said from the trade union that they were not able yet to make an official statement on the political developments. Today a long meeting with their counterparts from the union of employees in the private sector is taking place, and it will be decided on Wednesday when Greece will sink again into union protests and what their demands will be.
 
The frustration of professional organizations is obvious. The government has a great responsibility for the situation in the country and the Greek society will not allow escaping their responsibilities, according to the president of the Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, Vassilis Korkidis. He stressed that it was important to change the politics rather than the use of procedures that would put the country in constant turmoil. Korkidis added that the country would not need extortionate dilemmas and splits. Immediate solutions are necessary, not political maneuvering at high risk, which could lead the country to a total collapse.

The president of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises Andreas Andreadis said that the idea of ​​a referendum would increase the possibility of a negative development for the economy of Greece and doom the country to secure collapse. Andreadis pointed out that such proposals would undermine the Greek people from the truly important issues related to the recovery of the local economy and the return to international markets in the medium term would be impossible.