Athens (EFE)
The strike has been called by the private and public sector unions, GSEE and ADEDY, and will be accompanied by demonstrations throughout the country.
Athens has woken up without public transport, although some minimum metro services will be provided to facilitate the movement of citizens who want to attend the mobilizations.
Air traffic controllers and sailors have also joined the strike, which is why a good part of today’s flights have been canceled, while the ships remain moored in the ports.
Many schools remain closed as the strike has been joined by teachers’ unions, along with railway workers, who ended another 10-day strike last Friday.
Tens of thousands of people are expected to demonstrate again throughout Greece to demand that justice be done for the biggest railway tragedy in the country’s history, in a new massive protest like those that have been taking place since the accident.
ADEDY has declared in a statement that officials demand “that the crime in Tempe” not be covered up, a town near where the accident occurred.
They also demand “that the privatization policies stop”, which they blame for the current state of deterioration of the railway.
Compensation with 42,000 euros to the families of the victims of the accident
Hellenic Train, the private company that operates the railways in Greece, will compensate each family of the 57 fatalities in the train accident on February 28 with an “advance payment” of 42,000 euros.
Injured passengers will receive compensation of between 5,000 and 10,000 euros, depending on their injuries and the length of their hospitalization, as reported by the company in a statement.
However, the company – controlled by the national railways of Italy – has qualified that the compensation “does not constitute in any way an acceptance of responsibility” in the accident.
For its part, the Greek government announced last week that it will compensate each family that has lost a loved one in the accident with a monthly pension of 1,600 euros and the elimination of their debts to the State.
On February 28 at 11:21 p.m. local time (21:21 GMT) a passenger train collided head-on with a freight train north of the city of Larisa, causing 57 deaths, mostly university students.
The prime minister acknowledged that the specific section did not have security systems that could have prevented the tragedy and after days of blaming what happened on a human error by the station manager, he corrected himself to apologize and acknowledge his political responsibility.