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Next Sunday, the government must tackle the first strike under its watch. The Federation of Private Employees (OIYE) of Greece has unanimously declared a 24-hour Panhellenic strike in the retail sector, in protest against the working of shops on Palm Sunday.

It is somewhat bizarre that the Federation both supports SYRIZA and accuses the government of not having repealed the law adopted by the previous government.

SYRIZA MP Dimitris Vitsas told SKAI TV that the law on shop hours is still in force, but workers have no less the right to protest.

For its part, the president of the federation of retailers from Attica/Piraeus, and the islands, Pavlos Politakis, pointed out that the shops in city centres will open.

In a statement, the OIYE explained the reasons for the strike: both past experience and studies on Sunday work have shown it has led to disastrous results for the sector and its employees who are forced to work even more. It is alleged that Sunday work has led to the closure of many shops and scores of people being left unemployed.

The statement says that thousands of small and medium businesses have shut their doors as a result of the deadly cocktail of Sunday work, the recession during the memorandum, dwindling disposable incomes and the deliberate shift of limited retail volumes to large multinational chains, shopping malls and outlets. The latter were the only beneficiaries from the introduction of Sunday work, and it was done by their design.

The OIYE demands that the Ministry of Economy scrap the law allowing Sunday work in the retail sector, regulate Sunday as a day off, with an exemption only for tourist areas within a limited framework to be agreed with the unions.

The federation met with the economy minister, Giorgos Statakis, who said that all the statements on retailers working on Sundays attributed to him were untrue. Statakis confirmed that the government is committed to scrap the law and return to previous arrangements.