Greek unions staged their fifth general strike of the year, halting ferries, public transport and other state services to protest government plans to cut pension benefits and loosen labor laws.
The General Confederation of Labor, or GSEE, Greece’s largest union group for workers at private companies, and ADEDY, the civil servants’ organization, are holding a rally and march on parliament in Athens. The 24-hour stoppage includes maritime engineers at Piraeus, Greece’s largest port.
“We are faced with almost the totaling of Greece’s social security and labor system,” ADEDY Chairman Spyros Papaspyrou said by telephone. “We want the overturn of the harsh and anti- social measures and remain committed to this struggle.”
Greece is in the midst of its biggest upheaval since joining the euro nine years ago after being forced to take action to avoid a debt default. Reforms to pensions and the way workers are hired and fired are required by the European Union and International Monetary Fund in return for the 110 billion euros ($135 billion) of emergency loans agreed in May.
Greek pensioners on average live on 96 percent of the salary they had when they worked, more than twice the proportion of earnings as Germans, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The Paris-based group called the system a “fiscal time bomb.”
96% of your pension, good work if you can get it!
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