ATHENS — "Kyriakos Mitsotakis' government essentially wants to demolish the democratic and social acquis of the post-dictatorship era and this is a straightforward attack on labour relations, with the abolition of the eight-hour working day," main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance leader Alexis Tsipras said during his meeting on Tuesday with the executive committee of the Civil Servants Union (ADEDY), referring to the government's planned labour law legislation.

He congratulated ADEDY for its "very important presence in the mobilisation by workers in view of the anti-labour and anti-social bill that is about to be tabled in parliament and especially for its great success in organising the strike and rally on May 6".

Tsipras again promised that the draft bill's "deeply anti-social and hostile to labour" provisions will be "abolished as soon as a progressive government is given the opportunity to return society and the country to a direction of social cohesion."

The chair of the committee, Dimitris Bratis, noted that the demands of Chicago workers in the 19th century – for eight hours work, eight hours of rest and eight hours of free time – "are once again the goal".

Bratis said that the messages received from all over the country show that participation in the strike on June 10 will high, both in terms of the turnout at rallies and demonstrations but also for the strike itself. "We believe that it is an outburst by the people against all the things legislated during the period of the pandemic," he added.