Strike action

Flights to and from Greece were grounded and ships remained docked at ports on Thursday, as Greek workers walked off the job to protest over the country's deadliest train crash on record which killed 57 people on Feb. 28.

Greece is blocked by a 24-hour general strike. The transport is not moving. Government offices are closed. Large-scale protest demonstrations are being prepared throughout the country.

Teachers, London Underground train drivers and civil servants joined striking doctors Wednesday in a mass stoppage, just as Britain's finance minister Jeremy Hunt unveiled his tax and spending plans.

With hundreds of thousands of workers walking out, it was touted as the biggest single day of industrial action since a wave of unrest began last year.

Flights to and from Greece will be grounded and ships will remain docked at ports on Thursday, as Greek workers walk off the job to protest over the country's deadliest train crash on record which killed 57 people on Feb. 28.

The City of Light is losing its luster with tons of garbage piling up on Paris sidewalks as sanitation workers were on strike for a ninth day Tuesday. The creeping squalor is the most visible sign of widespread anger over a bill to raise the French retirement age by two years.

Aegean Airlines and its subsidiary Olympic Air have canceled all scheduled domestic and international flights on Thursday following the decision of air-traffic controllers to join a 24-hour nationwide strike.

A protest march in Athens on March 3 over the deadly train crash near the city of Larissa. Photo: EPA-EFE/ALEXANDROS BELTES

They are also demanding that journalists be allowed to do their jobs without interference from media owners who usually have their own business agendas.

Other demands listed in a joint statement include better working conditions and salaries.

Pharmacists in Attica have announced a four-hour work stop on Wednesday in support of the strike called in the aftermath of the Tempe railway disaster.

Pharmacies will close from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Attica Pharmaceutical Association said.

Their counterparts in Thessaloniki said they would strike from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Transport workers in Athens have revised the hours they will work on Wednesday, when private-sector union ADEDY has called a 24-hour strike.

Lines 2 (Red) and 3 (Blue) of the Athens metro will operate from noon until 4 p.m., while Line 1 (Green) will run from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Buses and trolleys will remain in depots and not operate, due to the strike.

The Panhellenic Union of Tug and Lifeguard Crews has announced on Friday two further 48-hour strikes to follow the strike on February 8-9 called by the umbrella union of Greek Seamen, PNO. Specifically, the Tug and Lifeguard Crews union will participate in the 48-hour strike called by PNO, and will then go on strike from Friday, February 10.