Strike protests for May Day have begun in central Athens, with participation from ADEDY, the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), the Athens Labor Center and PAME, while traffic disruptions are ongoing.
May Day strike protests: Where rallies will take place, traffic disruptions underway
The rally by ADEDY, GSEE and the Athens Labor Center was scheduled for 11:00 at Klafthmonos Square, while PAME’s call for a strike rally was set for 10:30 at Syntagma Square. Similar mobilizations will take place in Thessaloniki and other Greek cities.
Police have implemented traffic restrictions in central Athens due to the strike mobilizations. Specifically, vehicle traffic has been suspended on roads around Syntagma Square, as well as on Panepistimiou and Stadiou streets.
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ADEDY’s call for participation in the May Day strike
ADEDY emphasizes in its announcement that the need for collective action and struggle is more urgent than ever. “We continue on the path of major mobilizations, demanding justice, democracy and a state that serves society and not the interests of the few. We honor the struggles and sacrifices of the working class from Chicago 1886 to today and continue demanding decent wages, stable employment, social justice and democracy in workplaces,” ADEDY states, among other things.
At the same time, ADEDY demands the following:
- “Restoration of the 13th and 14th salaries.
- Real wage increases for decent living through Collective Labor Agreements.
- Abolition of the 2% unemployment contribution.
- Unfreezing of salary scales for 2016-2017.
- Increase of the tax-free threshold to 12,000 euros.
- Extension and strengthening of hazardous and unhealthy work allowances.
- Mass recruitment of permanent staff in the public sector, particularly in health, education and social security.
- Substantial strengthening of the National Health System with generous funding.
- Abolition of anti-worker laws.
- Protection of public goods and no to privatizations”.
GSEE’s call for participation in the May Day strike
GSEE, implementing the decision of its congress, declared a 24-hour general strike today Friday May 1st and calls on all workers to participate massively in strike mobilizations throughout the country. “May Day 2026 is a reminder that nothing is given without collective demand. We strike not only for what was lost, but for what must be won. We strike, so that the voice of labor is heard today and tomorrow is shaped with terms of justice,” notes the Confederation.
According to a related announcement, GSEE focuses this year’s May Day on:
- “further improvement of the framework for free collective bargaining, aiming for substantial wage increases,
- restoration of the National General Collective Labor Agreement to the hands of social partners,
- addressing the housing crisis and high prices,
- ensuring health and safety in every workplace,
- protection of public goods,
- restoration of transparency, meritocracy and equality in every aspect of public life and
- addressing growing economic, social and educational inequalities”.
Athens Labor Center: “May Day is a day of memory and struggle”
The Athens Labor Center emphasizes that May Day is not simply a day of memory, it is a day of struggle. “A living link that connects yesterday’s sacrifices and achievements with today’s demands. From the dead of Chicago to the struggles of Thessaloniki, the historical legacy of the working class is the compass for continuing the collective struggle for social justice, equality and dignity”.
PAME for May Day: Let the working class strengthen the struggle
“We are inspired by the great class struggles of the past and promise the struggles of the future to do everything in our power, so that the working class stands at the height of its historical mission. To strengthen the struggle, to clash with the power of capital, to definitively break the bonds of exploitation of man by man and to open the path for a society without poverty, wars, injustice and oppression,” emphasizes PAME, among other things.
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