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Victoria Mindova

It seems that the tree-months long strikes in public transport exhausted not only citizens, but the protesters themselves too. February 1, 2011 is the date when the new higher price of public transport tickets defined by the government becomes effective. The tickets cost 1 euro before and now their price is 1.4 euros. The unions responded by a 48-hour strike of city buses and trolleys. The underground put on the brakes for 24 hours which subsequently grew into a 48-hour strike. Only the electric train in Athens was running which due to the repairs that has been going on for two years serves only two thirds of the route Piraeus-Kifisya.  

Public transport drivers announced another protest but it did not bring more than 800 people instead of the 2000 expected at least. GRReporter was on the scene to cover the opinions and attitudes of both the strikers and the ordinary citizens relating to the endless protests.
 
"Our strike is against the PASOK government and the supervisory Troika law on urban transport recovery. In our opinion, this law will not recover the public transport but will destroy it," said Apostolos Kasimeris, a board member of the organisation of the Athens public transport. He is the only member of the board who refused to obey the court and continued with the strike action. After the strike of drivers of buses and trolleys had been declared illegal and unconstitutional, union representatives of PASOK and New Democracy withdrew their protests. Only radical leftists continued and their leader is Apostolos Kasimeris.

We asked the unionist how long the employees were ready to continue to strike. "We are on strike on Monday and Tuesday this week. We will be on a four-hour protest strike on Friday. We will be on strike next Monday and a general meeting of the workers will be held the same day. Then we will take a decision on our further actions." It is expected that strike actions will intensify the next week because the bill on the public transport enterprises reform will be presented to the Parliament for a final vote. Apostolos Kasimeris explained that the protests would continue because the public transport employees were not ready to put up with the cuts of wages and jobs.  

"The two largest parties are responsible for the situation today because after years of indecency and theft they now kill the future of ordinary Greeks and their children," said a participant in the rally on Omonia Square. An hour later public transport drivers and their supporters went on a protest march to the Parliament which had to finish in front of the union of employees in the private sector. I asked why there provided that public transport employees are in fact civil servants and Kasimeris said: "We belong to the public sector. We pay higher taxes as civil servants but our social securities are as in the private sector. The logic is to take as much from the worker as possible."

The procession was not supported as expected but there were ordinary citizens in the crowd  who were not public transport employees. The 32-year-old Eleni is a member of the new movement "I do not pay". She explained that the public initiative urged people not to buy tickets for public transport in protest of the new price increases. Eleni explained that around 600 million euros of tax revenue were allocated each year for public transport in compliance with the law. It appeared, however, that only about 100 million euros of this amount reached the transport funds in the past 12 years while the rest had lost their way. Bank loans had proved to be the only solution to fill the gaps in funding and that had led to the large deficits of the companies today, according to the young woman. "I do not agree people who buy a ticket every day to pay the price and to take the burden. So, my protest is to support the initiative, I do not pay!" said Eleni.

We asked ordinary citizens what was their opinion for the lengthy transport strikes. We were completely refused comments on the continued lack of buses, trolleys or underground. The most frequent response was: "I have no opinion" or "I do not want to comment" or "Do not ask me." People were rushing back and forth across the capital streets, getting in and out of taxis, cars, shops and offices. It seemed they were not paying any attention to the strike and the shouting drivers. I came to a kiosk for newspapers on Syntagma Square and asked the seller: "Do you support the strikers in their fight against government reforms?" She looked at me with tired eyes and said coldly: "Please, do not bother me with questions. I do not want to answer any journalists or anyone - we all have problems."

I bought a pack of cigarettes and asked her at least to tell me how she considered the current situation in Greece. She relented and said: "I do not know who is right and who is not in this country." The woman said that she had been tired of looking at strikes and protests on Syntagma Square in recent years. According to her, the public transport drivers had the right to protect their labour rights, but this was not the most serious problem of Greece. She explained that they had jobs at least, adding that the unemployed increased every day and they were also concerned about their survival but they did not block the traffic in the cities. "It is only mess all around and someone should put the things in order," concluded the cigarettes seller.