Greece: first opinion poll after Memorandum vote
The first opinion poll after the voting of the Memorandum in Greek parliament shows a further weaking of the government parties and a continued shift of the electorate to the left.
The first opinion poll after the voting of the Memorandum in Greek parliament shows a further weaking of the government parties and a continued shift of the electorate to the left.
On Sunday, February 12, the Israel trade union confederation Histadrut brough a five day general strike for contract workers to an end, with the signature of an agreement with the government. The strike had affected government ministries, local authorities, banks, transport services, ports, etc.
After a lot of wrangling, a few minutes ago, the Greek government announced that a deal had been reached with the three parties which support it in relation to the cuts and austerity measures demanded by the troika (the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund). These measures were part of the conditions for the release of a new bail out of 130 billion euro. What it means is that the Greek workers and people in general will have to endure even further attacks on living standards so that the state can pay back part of its debt to the banks, investors (Greek and European) and financial institutions.
Half a million public and private sector workers in Israel started an open ended general strike today, Wednesday February 8, in defence of the rights of contract workers. The strike was called by labour federation Histadrut, after last minute talks with the government failed to reach any agreement.
Following our recent analysis of the current situation in Hungary, we publish a translation of a blog entry from Egyenlítõ TV, a left wing Hungarian Facebook page, on what the average Hungarian can expect in his pay packet starting this month. In spite of its author displaying some illusions in the IMF or some confusion about pensioners, it is an excellent piece clearly demonstrating that Hungary is following governments the world over in making the working class – and especially its poorest section – pay for the crisis of capitalism and for the mess their own economic mismanagement and corruption have caused.