INTERNATIONAL POLICY ANALYSIS Trade Unions in Greece and the Crisis A Key Actor under Pressure ZOE LANARA April 2012 „ „ In recent years Greece has had to put up with an economic adjustment programme of unprecedented severity, which has hit workers particularly hard. „ „ Despite the high cost imposed on the social sector and the population, the prospects of economic recovery have not improved. The negative effects are clearly discernible in the labour market and in the deterioration of the social situation. „ „ The current situation represents a severe test of Greece’s social cohesion and the challenges and adversities confronting the Greek trade unions are growing. „ „ The reforms have undermined the trade unions and are threatening the cohesion of collective representation. Furthermore, workers and the trade unions are caught up, in a fragmented labour market characterised by precarious and flexibilised employ­ment conditions, in an unequal struggle against employers whose rights have been inordinately strengthened.