This is the day the stability of the govt will be judged

An aspect of the legislation known as Article 37 is drawing particular fire not only from labour unions, but also from some leading members of the PASOK government and today, the day of the vote on the new multi-law by article, there is a fear among high ranking officials that some ministers and MPs will not vote in favour of all the articles, thus decreasing the parliamentary majority of the Papandreou government.

Both PASOK deputies Louka Katseli and Vasso Papandreou have openly declared they will not vote for Article 37 - if it isn’t changed - an Article according to which the power of unions to impose wages and work rules through collective labour agreements will be suspended. Their stance creates distress among governmental circles and unrest in the PASOK party, leading figures of which say that “the Louka and Vasso cases will be handled accordingly by the big bosses”, possibly referring to the premier George Papandreou himself.

Sources of protothema.gr say that initial contact will be made within the next few hours and before the vote, or that it has been made already and will be followed by another effort to change their minds if need be.

It is highly probable that things might get better after the conclusion of the cabinet meeting, expected to be headed by the Greek PM, at noon.

What is certain is that whoever votes against the Article will be expelled from the party; the premier will not head a government with a narrow majority and last but not least, PASOK says “we must first find a solution and then we can discuss everything, early polls included.”