EUROPE PLAGUED BY STRIKES AND WORKER DISCONTENT|希臘持續接受紓困 德漢莎航空機師罷工

Belgium and Greece are still suffering from austerity measures meant to alleviate their poor economies. This has led to people protesting and going on strike. Elsewhere in Europe, Pilots of Germany's Lufthansa Airlines are striking over wage freezes, resulting in over 300,000 passengers being affected. On Nov. 24, 17,000 healthcare workers and social workers took to the streets in Brussels to protest that the center-right government will continue to implement austerity measures, extending the weekly working hours from 38 to 45 hours, and also raising wages without links to inflation. They complained that there was a lack of staff in the medical and social work industry, and a heavy workload, which was almost drained by the government. ==PROTESTOR Belgian health care and medical staff== We are health care and medical personnel. We work very hard on night and weekend shifts. The Social Services Minister of Health, took away our long-standing benefits, so we are very angry. In Greece, which must continue to accept international financial bailouts, public sector workers have launched a national strike to protest against agreements between the government and creditors. ==public sector workers== We want the government to know we will not let them take away the rights we have fought for years. Greece has been in economic crisis for seven years, last year it had to accept three bail-outs. To reduce the budget deficit, the European Union and International Monetary Fund proposed to limit trade union collective bargaining power to give business owners more power to lay off labor, this triggered a strong pushback from workers and Prime Minister Tsipras' popularity declined steeply. Elsewhere in Europe, Germany's flagship carrier Lufthansa saw the second day of a pilots' strike against too low a wage rise. 2,000 flights were canceled and 21500 passengers delayed. This brought losses of 20 million Euros to the airline and fewer bookings. This is the 14 times that its pilots have gone on strike in two years. As over 300,000 passengers are affected, many don't understand how it can be so hard to solve the problem. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR