Workers at Greek state energy utility PPC announced they will launch 48-hour strikes that may result in rolling power outages to oppose government plans to sell the company.
PPC is a central piece of the Socialist government's plan to sell state assets worth 50 billion euros ($71.75 billion) through 2015 to raise cash to help pay off a crippling debt load and avoid sliding into sovereign default. But labour unions, opposition parties and some ruling party backbenchers oppose privatising some Greek state-owned firms, which are closely connected to political interests.
The government's privatisation proposal is part of a plan agreed with Athens' international lenders, the European Union and International Monetary Fund, to cut the budget deficit from 10.5 percent of gross domestic product last year to 1.1 percent in 2015.
The plan includes extra 6.4 billion euros of new austerity measures this year - almost doubling originally agreed steps. It has sparked daily protests and caused the ruling PASOK party to fall behind the conservative opposition in opinion polls.
PPC workers had announced last month they would strike against the government's plans to reduce the state's stake in public companies.
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