The FINANCIAL — Greek workers walked off the job on December 3 for a second time in three weeks, in protest against economic overhauls the country must introduce to satisfy international creditors, according to Nasdaq.
The 24-hour strike called by Greece’s two largest union groups, GSEE and ADEDY, which represent private and public sector workers respectively, is expected to disrupt flights, hospitals, public transport and government services. Several marches will be held in the center of Athens, converging on Syntagma Square, the site of parliament.
Protests against the two-month-old coalition government have been picking up as Greece comes under pressure from creditors to undertake a promised overhaul of its creaking pension system.
Measures to reduce pension spending are among the conditions for the release of further funds from Greece’s new €86 billion ($91.06 billion) bailout plan, agreed in the summer between Athens and other eurozone governments, who are its main creditors.
“To all of those insisting on putting the weight of the crisis and the bailout agreement on the shoulders of the weak, the answer is the same: A battle until we win back what we have lost and reverse the new catastrophic plans for society and the economy,” said GSEE.
Bus, train and tram services will be disrupted due to a work stoppages, as will flights at the Athens airport. Hospitals will operate with a skeleton staff and ferries will remained docked for the day. Lawyers and secondary school teachers will also join the walk out.
It isn’t clear when the pension overhaul will be brought to parliament for a vote. The measures have yet to be defined by the Greek government.
The last batch of economic overhauls approved by lawmakers proved to be costly for the coalition government, made up of the left-wing Syriza party of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and their right wing junior partner Independent Greeks.
Legislating those measures, including reducing mortgage debtors’ protections against home repossession by banks, reduced the government’s majority in parliament to just three seats.
In a bid to secure broader political consensus on the pension reforms, Mr. Tsipras took the unusual step last week of meeting with the heads of five opposition parties represented in parliament. After a six-hour meeting, no deal was reached by the party leaders.
Mr. Tsipras, who rejected similar quests for cross-party consensus by previous Greek governments when he was in opposition, was hoping for a common statement rejecting further outright cuts in pension levels, to strengthen his hand in negotiations with Greece’s creditors.
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