Unions in Greece call widespread strikes, seeking a return to bargaining rights axed during bailouts

Protesters hold banners during a rally in Athens, Greece, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. A 24-hour strike called by Greece's largest labor union have halted ferries and public transport services in the Greek capital and other cities, to press for a return of collective bargaining rights axed more than a decade ago during a severe financial crisis. Writing on banner with red line across the face of Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, reads in Greek; “Killer Government / We Will Overturn It”. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Riot police flank protesters during a rally in Athens, Greece, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. A 24-hour strike called by Greece's largest labor union have halted ferries and public transport services in the Greek capital and other cities, to press for a return of collective bargaining rights axed more than a decade ago during a severe financial crisis. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A man reads a sign informing passengers about the strike, in a metro station, in the Egaleo suburb of Athens, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. The General Confederation of Greek Labor, GSEE, called the strikes to press for a return of collective bargaining rights axed more than a decade ago during a severe financial crisis. The 24-hour strike kept ferries at ports and disrupted other public services, leaving some state-run hospitals running on emergency staff levels (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A woman reads a sign informing passengers about the strike, in a metro station, in the Egaleo suburb of Athens, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. The General Confederation of Greek Labor, GSEE, called the strikes to press for a return of collective bargaining rights axed more than a decade ago during a severe financial crisis. The 24-hour strike kept ferries at ports and disrupted other public services, leaving some state-run hospitals running on emergency staff levels (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

People walk past docked ferries at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, during a 24-hour ferry strike on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. The General Confederation of Greek Labor, GSEE, called the strikes to press for a return of collective bargaining rights axed more than a decade ago during a severe financial crisis. The 24-hour strike kept ferries at ports and disrupted other public services, leaving some state-run hospitals running on emergency staff levels (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Docked ferries at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, during a 24-hour ferry strike on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. The General Confederation of Greek Labor, GSEE, called the strikes to press for a return of collective bargaining rights axed more than a decade ago during a severe financial crisis. The 24-hour strike kept ferries at ports and disrupted other public services, leaving some state-run hospitals running on emergency staff levels (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Protesters hold banners during a rally in Athens, Greece, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. A 24-hour strike called by Greece's largest labor union have halted ferries and public transport services in the Greek capital and other cities, to press for a return of collective bargaining rights axed more than a decade ago during a severe financial crisis. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A protester using a loudspeaker shouts slogans during a rally in Athens, Greece, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. A 24-hour strike called by Greece's largest labor union have halted ferries and public transport services in the Greek capital and other cities, to press for a return of collective bargaining rights axed more than a decade ago during a severe financial crisis. Writing on banner with red line across the face of Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, reads in Greek; “Killer Government / We Will Overturn It”. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Strikes called by Greece’s largest labor union halted ferries, disrupted public transport services and left some state-run hospitals running on emergency staffing levels in Athens and elsewhere Wednesday.

The General Confederation of Greek Labor, GSEE, led the strikes to press for a return of collective bargaining rights axed more than a decade ago during a severe financial crisis.

Several thousand protesters, chanting “our rights are not utopia,” attended a demonstration in central Athens which ended peacefully. Public park workers also joined the strike and protests, along with food delivery drivers who rode past parliament on motorbikes, holding up red smoke flares.

Police said some 4,000 protesters joined a rally Wednesday in Greece’s second-largest city, Thessaloniki.

The 24-hour strikes also disrupted national rail services. Flights at Greek airports were not affected.

Greece has returned to robust economic growth and an investment-grade sovereign bond rating following a series of international bailouts and a severe recession during the 2010-18 crisis.

But unions argue that many labor rights removed as a temporary measure during the bailout-era have not been restored. Since the crisis, Greece's minimum wage is set by the government and not through negotiations between unions and employers.

“We were told during the bailouts that the (measures) would only last for a few years until Greece gets back on its feet. That’s not what’s happening now,” GSEE leader Yiannis Panagopoulos told a news conference ahead of the strike.

“Restoring labor laws, collective and individual working rights, costs nothing. And it gives us the tools to seek fair pay," he added.

Collective bargaining and the right to strike are protected under the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. But labor associations in Europe say the way that unions can negotiate pay wage deals has been limited in Greece and other member states affected by the financial crisis.

___ Kantouris reported from Thessaloniki , Greece