TIMES ONLINE: Greek public sector workers today began a 48-hour national strike that is a first test of the Government’s ability to enact new austerity measures agreed with the EU and IMF in return for billions of euros in aid.
Ministries, tax offices, schools, hospitals and public services were shutting down ahead of a midday rally of civil servants outside Parliament, organised by Adedy, the country’s main public sector union.
“We want an end to the freefall of our living standards,” said Spyros Papaspyros, the head of Adedy, which represents about half a million workers. “I think this will be one of the biggest protests we’ve seen in the last decade.”
Private sector workers are due to join the walkout tomorrow, the third joint strike since the beginning of the year, when worries about Greece’s swollen debt and deficit levels made the country a target of financial markets. Some flights are already affected today.
The workers' protests began hours after the European Central Bank (ECB) was forced to execute an embarrassing U-turn on its lending rules in order to stave off the collapse of the Greek banking system.
In a statement the ECB said that it was suspending a rule preventing it accepting junk-rated government bonds in return for loans. It said that the indefinite suspension applied to Greek government debt only. >>> Jenny Booth | Tuesday, May 04, 2010
