Capitalist austerity destroys Greece

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This video is called Greek Unions Protest Labor Bill.

From the World Socialist Web Site:

On-the-spot report

Unemployment, wage cuts destroy living standards of millions in Greece

17 March 2012

Plastered on the windows of the unemployment office in the Neos Kosmos district of Athens are posters with slogans denouncing the austerity measures of the unelected Greek government of Lucas Papademos. One of these is from the employees of the unemployment office. Another, from members of the physicians’ union, demands free health care for all.

Posted on the door is a sheet of paper stating that the basic level of unemployment benefits has been reduced from €460 a month to just €360. That is the total amount an unemployed person receives in government benefits.

The supervisor of the office told the World Socialist Web Site that the number of unemployed has increased enormously in the local area, but he would not give any concrete figures, explaining that he had been instructed not to.

Young people entering the building to register as unemployed were visibly angry. A woman told us, “It is a terrible situation. I just want to say one thing to you and that is that the politicians just lie. All of them just lie.”

One of the main features of the recession in Greece, now in its fifth year, is the enormous increase in youth unemployment. More young people are now unemployed than have jobs, with 51.1 percent of youth unemployed.

Dr. Kostas Dimoulas, a lecturer in industrial sociology at Panteion University, told the WSWS that even this is an underestimation. The real figure is as high as 60 percent. Dimoulas is a senior consultant with the Labour Institute of the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE).

More than 1 million people are now unemployed. For December 2011, the rate was 21 percent, up from 14.8 percent for the same month in 2010.

Dimoulas forecasts a massive rise this year, saying that by the end of 2012, it will probably increase by at least 300,000, to 24 per cent. “Most of the companies are already using a new law that allows employers to dismiss 5 percent of their staff per month,” he said.