ATHENS — Greek workers walked off the job on Tuesday to protest a new barrage of austerity measures being demanded by the country’s foreign creditors in exchange for a second bailout of $170 billion without which Greece faces a potentially catastrophic default within weeks.
The general strike, the second this year, comes as government officials continued tense talks with representatives of the so-called troika of foreign lenders — the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — on the terms of a new loan program.
Negotiations on a crucial writedown on Greek debt, expected to wipe $130 billion off the country’s debt, were continuing in parallel but depend on the success of the bailout deal.
Although airports operated as normal, other transport services were disrupted. Ferries remained moored in the country’s ports and train services were suspended. Public transport workers ran a limited service in Athens to allow protesters to join rallies in the city center.
The police said about 10,000 people marched peacefully to Parliament. There was also a separate demonstration by about 10,000 Communist unionists. No arrests or injuries were reported.
The walkout also closes government offices, schools and courts and left hospitals operating on emergency staff. Many shopkeepers, exasperated at the impact of higher taxes and reduced consumer spending, closed down for the day.
The country’s two labor unions are appealing to austerity-weary Greeks to come out in force and protest the measures proposed by creditors which include cuts of around 20 percent in private sector wages, reductions in supplemental pensions, thousands of civil service layoffs and additional cuts to state spending.
The measures follow two years of tax increases and wage cuts in the state sector that have pushed the country into a deep recession. Unemployment stands at 19 percent and is quickly rising while the economy, in its fourth year of recession, is expected to contract by 6 percent, according to estimates by the I.M.F.
Unions condemn the proposed measures, touted as the only alternative to bankruptcy for Greece, as extortion.
“It is a brutal, cynical blackmail against an entire nation,” said the head of the private sector workers’ union, Yiannis Panagopoulos. “This is not a negotiation,” he said, referring to the talks between government officials and creditors which have dragged on for days.
Prime Minister Lucas Papademos was expected to meet the three leaders of his uneasy coalition later on Tuesday in another bid to get their backing for new measures — once these have been finalized in the talks between officials of the Finance and Labor Ministries and the troika.
If Greece’s politicians fail to reach a deal with their lenders, and secure fresh rescue funding, the country faces the risk of a disorderly default on March 20 when a $19 billion bond repayment is due.
nytimes.com
The general strike, the second this year, comes as government officials continued tense talks with representatives of the so-called troika of foreign lenders — the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — on the terms of a new loan program.
Negotiations on a crucial writedown on Greek debt, expected to wipe $130 billion off the country’s debt, were continuing in parallel but depend on the success of the bailout deal.
Although airports operated as normal, other transport services were disrupted. Ferries remained moored in the country’s ports and train services were suspended. Public transport workers ran a limited service in Athens to allow protesters to join rallies in the city center.
The police said about 10,000 people marched peacefully to Parliament. There was also a separate demonstration by about 10,000 Communist unionists. No arrests or injuries were reported.
The walkout also closes government offices, schools and courts and left hospitals operating on emergency staff. Many shopkeepers, exasperated at the impact of higher taxes and reduced consumer spending, closed down for the day.
The country’s two labor unions are appealing to austerity-weary Greeks to come out in force and protest the measures proposed by creditors which include cuts of around 20 percent in private sector wages, reductions in supplemental pensions, thousands of civil service layoffs and additional cuts to state spending.
The measures follow two years of tax increases and wage cuts in the state sector that have pushed the country into a deep recession. Unemployment stands at 19 percent and is quickly rising while the economy, in its fourth year of recession, is expected to contract by 6 percent, according to estimates by the I.M.F.
Unions condemn the proposed measures, touted as the only alternative to bankruptcy for Greece, as extortion.
“It is a brutal, cynical blackmail against an entire nation,” said the head of the private sector workers’ union, Yiannis Panagopoulos. “This is not a negotiation,” he said, referring to the talks between government officials and creditors which have dragged on for days.
Prime Minister Lucas Papademos was expected to meet the three leaders of his uneasy coalition later on Tuesday in another bid to get their backing for new measures — once these have been finalized in the talks between officials of the Finance and Labor Ministries and the troika.
If Greece’s politicians fail to reach a deal with their lenders, and secure fresh rescue funding, the country faces the risk of a disorderly default on March 20 when a $19 billion bond repayment is due.
nytimes.com
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