2013-02-20 08:26:01
Greece is being hit by the first general strike of 2013 as workers renew their
protest over austerity measures.
The 24-hour strike is forcing the closure of schools and state-run offices and
leaving hospitals working with emergency staff.
The strike has been called by Greece's two biggest labour unions, representing
half the four million-strong workforce.
It comes days before international lenders are due in Athens to discuss the
next instalment of a bailout.
The debt-ridden country is being kept afloat by billions of euros from other
eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund.
In return, the government has imposed waves of unpopular spending cuts and tax
rises, hitting pay and pensions and sending unemployment soaring to more than
26%.
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Our struggle will continue for as long as these policies are implemented
Greek private sector union GSEE
Strikes and violent protests have become commonplace.
Greece's coalition government managed to secure the latest tranche of bailout
money at the end of last year, and Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras told the
BBC he believed the worst was over for his country.
However, the BBC's Athens correspondent Mark Lowen says that Wednesday's strike
is a reminder that government confidence of a slowly improving economic
situation is not shared by many on the streets.
Marches
Union leaders say they are angry at the job cuts and tax rises being demanded
by Greece's international lenders.
"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 private sector union GSEE said in a statement.
"Our struggle will continue for as long as these policies are implemented," it
said.
The union is organising the walkout with public sector union Adedy.
Several marches are due to culminate in protests outside parliament in Syntagma
square, Athens, where violent clashes have broken out on previous occasions.
Our correspondent says the only difference between Wednesday's strike and
earlier protests is that public transport has been for the most part
unaffected. Buses are still operating and air traffic controllers are not on
strike, he says.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's eight-month-old government has taken a tough
line on strikers, invoking emergency law twice this year to order seamen and
metro staff back to work.
But despite such measures, strikes have recently picked up.
A one-day visit by French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday went largely
unreported because Greek journalists downed tools.
Our correspondent says more than 20 general strikes since the crisis erupted
have failed to halt austerity - and this one is unlikely to be any different.