General strike paralyzes Greece

Greek public and private sector workers went on strike on Thursday, grounding flights, reports said. The strike is shutting schools and halting public transport in the second nationwide walkout in a fortnight in protest against austerity plans. General strike paralyzes Greece This is the second general strike organized by two largest unions in the country in the past week. Demonstrations are planned to be held in Athens and other bigger cities in Greece. All flight will be grounded for 24 hours. Under pressure from markets and European Union partners, the government unveiled a new austerity package last week worth EUR 4.8bn. It included a rise in value added tax (VAT), cuts in civil service incomes and a pension freeze. The unions say, however, that ordinary citizens now have to pay a disproportional price for the government’s previous bad work. “They are trying to make the workers pay the price for the crisis. These measures will not be efficient and they will completely freeze the economic activity,” said Leader of the biggest Greek union GSEE, Yiannis Panagopoulos. Journalists, teachers, doctors at state hospitals, air-traffic controllers, bank employees, firemen, coast guard officers, tax collectors and even police officers would be among those marching. Buses and trains will not be operating in Athens, as well as ships and trains in the entire country. During the rallies last Friday, the protesters were throwing rocks and breaking windows of stores and banks so the police was forced to use tear gas and sticks to break the protest. The government insists that heavy austerity measures are the only way to pull Greece out of the crisis which has also hit the euro and shaken the international markets. The government needs to cut down the budget deficit from 12.7 percent of GDP in 2009 to 8.7 percent this year. A long-term goal is to reduce the deficit to the envisaged level of bellow three percent of GDP for the Eurozone countries by 2012.

General strike paralyzes Greece

This is the second general strike organized by two largest unions in the country in the past week. Demonstrations are planned to be held in Athens and other bigger cities in Greece. All flight will be grounded for 24 hours.

Under pressure from markets and European Union partners, the government unveiled a new austerity package last week worth EUR 4.8bn.

It included a rise in value added tax (VAT), cuts in civil service incomes and a pension freeze.

The unions say, however, that ordinary citizens now have to pay a disproportional price for the government’s previous bad work.

“They are trying to make the workers pay the price for the crisis. These measures will not be efficient and they will completely freeze the economic activity,” said Leader of the biggest Greek union GSEE, Yiannis Panagopoulos.

Journalists, teachers, doctors at state hospitals, air-traffic controllers, bank employees, firemen, coast guard officers, tax collectors and even police officers would be among those marching.

Buses and trains will not be operating in Athens, as well as ships and trains in the entire country.

During the rallies last Friday, the protesters were throwing rocks and breaking windows of stores and banks so the police was forced to use tear gas and sticks to break the protest.

The government insists that heavy austerity measures are the only way to pull Greece out of the crisis which has also hit the euro and shaken the international markets.

The government needs to cut down the budget deficit from 12.7 percent of GDP in 2009 to 8.7 percent this year.

A long-term goal is to reduce the deficit to the envisaged level of bellow three percent of GDP for the Eurozone countries by 2012.