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Greece faces general strike as workers protest cost of living squeeze (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 6 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Union leaders have accused the centre-right administration of failing to address escalating inflation and argue that the rising cost of living has corroded living standards to the point where many are finding it hard to survive.

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[–] samokosik 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

When you hurt the production owner’s income, they have to cut costs. One of the way to do it is to lay of employees.

[–] RubberElectrons 1 points 4 days ago

That's an option. People generally put their jobs directly at risk when they don't have much other opportunity for improvement. Do you know something they don't?

If enough people refuse to return to work, output shrinks, never mind the damaged reputation of the company. And reputation counts, would you work at Walmart expecting a positive experience? Shrunken output means purchasers will start looking elsewhere to meet their needs, further damaging that employer.

Scale it up to a state level. Things get much more complex, the web of supply/demand gets both more complex... But also provides more options. This protest is likely going to get officials to look into things like self-sufficiency where possible vs import, considerations of how to better apply taxes to keep said officials out of jeopardy, and so on.

None of this is simple, nor are solutions straightforward. My point, and worker's in general, is that people want to be able to afford basic staples for a fair amount of work, and if the people aren't getting their end of the bargain, the "owners" have very limited time to get with the program or things will change.