Hospitality workers in Heraklion are set to rally on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, demanding better wages, working conditions, maternity protections, and reforms to unemployment benefits. The 24-hour nationwide strike, organized by GSEE, will include the Heraklion Tourism and Hospitality Employees Union, with support from the Panhellenic Federation of Food Service and Tourism Workers (POEET).

The union’s demands focus on several critical areas: raising the seasonal unemployment benefit, ensuring paid maternity leave, enforcing the digital work card system, and negotiating a new sectoral collective labor agreement. These priorities reflect a broader push to restore fairness, dignity, and stability to a workforce that underpins one of Greece’s most vital industries.

In a call for solidarity, the union is urging all hospitality and tourism workers to gather at the Heraklion Labor Center at 10:00 a.m. The protest aims to spotlight the systemic issues burdening thousands in the sector.

Among their key grievances:

• The seasonal unemployment benefit is limited to just three months, leaving many without support during the off-season. This has contributed to an estimated 80,000 job vacancies.

• Seasonal employees in tourism and food services currently receive no maternity benefits, creating an unsustainable situation for working mothers.

• The digital work card system lacks sufficient oversight, enabling exploitation and wage violations.

• The absence of a binding collective labor agreement and a fair, negotiated minimum wage has left workers with stagnant incomes.

With rising living costs, housing challenges, and low wages, many feel trapped in a cycle of economic insecurity. Workers say the time for action is now.

As April 9 approaches, the message from Heraklion’s hospitality sector is loud and clear: the system must change. Whether their voices are finally heard remains to be seen—but their resolve is unwavering.