A closely watched draft amendment that includes a provision to raise the percentage of dues-paying members needed to approve an industrial action by a first instance union to at least half (50 percent + 1), is expected to be tabled in Greece's parliament on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The measure is a standing demand by Greece's creditors, especially the IMF, and part of efforts to liberalize the still bailout-dependent country's labor sector. In fact, the still pending measure was one of a handful of "prior actions" left over from the second bailout memorandum.
Reactions by labor unions and the leftist opposition have been fierce, with members of a Communist Party-affiliated labor grouping (PAME) breaking into the labor ministry in central Athens on Tuesday afternoon as a protest march was passing outside.
Protesters made their way to the ministry's roof and later hung a banner over the side of the building, reading "get your paws off the (right to) strike".
The amendment only affects first instance trade union entities, such as ones respresenting employees at specific enterprises, and not sector-wide unions or labor centers.
