Greek unions unleash 48-hour strike

Friday, 10 February 2012 16:30

ATHENS: Greek unions unleashed a 48-hour strike on Friday against new austerity measures to go before parliament and required by the European Union and the IMF in exchange for badly needed aid.

The measures, slammed as "the grave of Greek society," sparked a strike call by the CSEE and Adedy unions that together claim more than a million members.

The Greek population totals a little more than 10.7 million.

Protestors were called again to Syntagma Square, the scene of often violent demonstrations against austerity measures over the past two years.

"The measures they are trying to sign and ratify will be the tombstone of Greece," a pensioner who gave his first name as Nikos told AFP.

"The people must take matters into their own hands," added Constantinos Amonas, a plastics factory worker.

"They should not wait, they should not be fooled by the political parties," he added.

Athens was deprived on Friday of bus, metro and trolley services, and security forces manned positions in the centre of the capital.

On Tuesday more than 20,000 people demonstrated in Athens and Greece's second city Thessaloniki during the first general strike of the year.

Greece's three-party coalition agreed Thursday to a new round of actions to pave the way for a 130-billion-euro (172-billion-dollar) EU bailout ahead of a loan repayment on March 20 which Athens cannot meet without assistance.

According to reports and party leaks, the measures include a 22 percent cut in the minimum wage, a 15 percent cut in complementary pensions and 15,000 civil service redundancies to meet a target of 150,000 layoffs by 2015.

In the eurozone's paymaster Germany, a poll found that two-thirds of the population did not believe Greece was serious about cutting spending to secure a bailout.

About 27 percent believed serious efforts would be made to implement austerity measures, while 66 percent were sceptical, according to the poll for ZDF public television.