"Apart from the rights that we have as workers and which we defend there is also the law. And when there is a court ruling that judges a strike illegal and abusive we must uphold this," government spokesman Yiorgos Petalotis said on Thursday.
Petalotis urged all sides to realise the importance of having public transport that benefited Greek citizens and to eliminate deficits through a completely different, revamped and rationalised approach to transport needs.
Asked whether the government would resort to laws allowing civil mobilisation and even dismissal of strikers, Petalotis said that this would be an extreme resort that the government was loathe to use, while adding that "the laws exist and apply to everyone".
"Before we get to these measures, we call on workers to come to dialogue and stop strikes, especially when these harm middle and lower strata of our society," he said, noting that one union in the public transport sector had already indicated a willingness to participate in dialogue.
ANA
