Greece's labour unions to go on 24-hour anti-austerity strike

Zeebiz Bureau

New Delhi: Greece's two biggest labour unions have decided to go on a nationwide anti-austerity strike that will disrupt transport, shut public schools and tax offices and hospitals, a news wire has reported.

Representing about 2.5 million workers, the unions have gone on strike repeatedly since Europe's debt crisis erupted in late 2009, testing the government's will to implement necessary reforms in the face of growing public anger.

"The (strike) is our answer to the dead-end policies that have squeezed the life out of workers, impoverished society and plunged the economy into recession and crisis," the wire said quoting the private sector union GSEE, which is organizing the walkout with its public sector sister union ADEDY.

"Our struggle will continue for as long as these policies are implemented," it said.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's eight-month-old coalition government has been eager to show it will implement reforms it promised the European Union and International Monetary Fund, which have bailed Athens out twice with over 200 billion euros.

With Agency Inputs