No radio and television news programs were broadcast in Greece on Wednesday, due to a 24-hour strike by journalists in a massive protest against the February 28 train crash that killed 57 people.
According to the journalists’ unions, the strike affects the audiovisual sector, most information sites and the printed press.
“Journalists join their voices with those of Greek society and the trade union movement” to “claim the actual attribution of responsibility for the crime in Tempé (accident scene, 350 km north of Athens, editor’s note)”, shared the Panhellenic Confederation with Publisher (POESY) in a statement.
POESY also calls for an end to the pressure allegedly being put on journalists by “the owners” of media groups and by “parties” and urges journalists to work to “uncover the real causes of the tragic accident that has rocked the country .
Journalists are also calling for “collective agreements” denouncing “low wages” since the sector was deregulated during the financial crisis of the last decade.
This strike comes on the eve of a 24-hour “general strike” called by private and public unions following several protest movements since the train crash that revealed serious disruptions to the railways.
Last Wednesday, around 65,000 people took to the streets in Athens and other cities across the country.
Greece is fighting against the conservative government that has been in office for four years, but also against its predecessors, while experts, the media and the public accuse the authorities of neglecting to modernize the rail network.