Athens Metro workers end 9-day strike

Striking Athens Metro workers have ended a 10-day strike after the Greek government threatened to arrest dissenting staff.

Metro services returned to normal on Friday after nine days of closure that disrupted the public transport network in the Greek capital and caused havoc to the system’s 1.1 million daily commuters.

“Trains have begun to operate” with a low frequency service “for the time being… but the situation is returning to normal,” said a Development Ministry source.

The biggest union in Greece, the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), had backed the strike along with hundreds of unionists assembled outside the metro depot headquarters as the police blocked access to its entrance earlier on Friday.

Some 300 riot police forces stormed the workers’ sit-in at the depot early in the morning to take charge over the worsening transport crisis as bus workers went on solidarity strike with their union colleagues.

The metro workers staged the protest against the government’s public sector unified wage scheme that would cut their salaries as part of the government’s austerity program.