Greek Universities Continue Striking

by Maria Papathanasiou, Greek Reporter: http://greece.greekreporter.com/2013/10/04/greek-universities-continue-striking/

The administrative staff of eight Greek Universities in its fifth week of striking. They are protesting against the government’s decision to cut jobs as part of its bailout commitments.

The unrest in the academic world is due to the implementation of the controversial mobility scheme, which will affect more than 1,300 administrative staff members in tertiary institutions by temporarily losing their jobs before possible relocation or dismissal.

Eight universities - Athens University, the National Technical University of Athens, the Athens University of Economics and Business, Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University and the universities of Patras, Thessaly, Crete and Ioannina - have stopped operating since the beginning of September.

Cutting administrative staff will increase the ratio of teachers-to-students. Universities demand from the government to revoke the new law.

The meeting of administrative staff with the Education Minister Constantinos Arvanitopoulos was inconclusive.