Thousands of strikers across Greece sent a strong message of condemnation against the government’s new anti-labour bill proposing 13-hour workdays, by participating in a major 24-hour nationwide strike, holding strike rallies and taking part in dynamic marches.

A delegation from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), led by its General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas, attended the strike rally in Athens. In his statements to the media, D. Koutsoumbas emphasized the following:

“Today’s struggle of the working class for shorter working hours is a great one. It will not end with the withdrawal of the government’s shameful bill for 13-hour working days, nor with it being thrown in the dustbin. The discussion has already begun in the workplaces. The struggle has begun for how we should live in the 21^st century, i.e. the era of great scientific discoveries and Artificial Intelligence. We need fewer working hours: 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, 35 hours a week in total. We need more free time for culture and sports. Parents need time to see their children and participate in public life, to meet their contemporary popular needs. We need a new society. Today’s battle is only the beginning.”

After the strike rally in Athens, a march to the Greek Parliament followed, with a large number of strikers flooding the streets and sending the message that workers are people, not machines. They will not accept brutality or the bill being drafted in accordance with EU directives, which allow for only an 11-hour break between shifts — effectively 13 hours of work per day.

In a statement, the All Workers’ Militant Front (PAME) noted the following, among other things: “The large turnout for the strike and rallies demonstrates the accumulated anger towards anti-popular policies that have turned workplaces into death traps. It is anger about the high prices that eat away at people’s income; about health care becoming an extremely expensive commodity; about schools starting the year with thousands of vacancies and unbearable costs for educating our children; about the slashed pensions that do not provide for a decent life in old age. Opposition was expressed to our country’s involvement in bloody imperialist wars and to the Greek government’s support for the butcher Netanyahu and the murderous state of Israel, which is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. Opposition was also expressed to the inflated state budgets for NATO military equipment at a time when human life is not taken into account, but is considered expendable, as demonstrated by the crime in Tempe (...).

Now is the time to intensify the struggle for life with contemporary rights, against exploitation and the barbarity of war. We demand a 7-hour, 5-day, 35-hour working week with increases in wages and pensions, as permitted by the development of science and productive forces, for state funding for health, education, and welfare, and not for the slaughterhouses of war.”

02.10.2025