Greek Unions Stage 24-hour Nationwide General Strike

Alkman Granitsas and Nick Skrekas
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Greece was paralyzed by a nationwide general strike Wednesday with sporadic incidents of violence breaking out as angry protesters clashed with police.

Police in Athens fired tear gas at protesters trying to break through a police line in front of Parliament, and in Greece's second city of Thessaloniki, they fired tear gas at youths throwing rocks at shops.

The strike has affected government services across the country, shutting ministries and public offices. State hospitals and public utilities are operating with skeleton staff. Shopkeepers joined the strike at midday local time, while journalists, bank workers, teachers, court workers, lawyers and doctors have also walked off the job.

All flights in and out of Greek airports have been canceled, while rail and ferry operations nationwide have been suspended.

The strike is seen as a key test of the government's ability to shepherd through tough austerity measures in exchange for a multibillion-euro bailout. Sunday, the Greek government agreed to a three-year austerity and reform program in exchange for a EUR110 billion bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

Facing spiraling borrowing costs and a debt payment later this month that it can't pay, the government is scrambling to pass through legislation implementing the reforms, and Parliament is expected to vote as soon as Thursday on the measures. Under the terms of the deal with the EU and IMF, the government has announced a EUR30 billion package of austerity measures that will slash public-sector wages, cut pensions, freeze public- and private-sector pay and liberalize Greece's labor laws.

In addition, Greece has pledged to raise taxes including a 2 percentage-point increase in Greece's top value-added tax rate to 23%, and hikes in excise taxes for fuel, tobacco and alcohol.

Millions of Greek workers are taking part in Wednesday's strike, which was called by Greece's two major umbrella unions, the private-sector GSEE and the public-sector ADEDY, amid widespread discontent over the measures.

In the center of Athens, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in one of the largest public demonstrations in years, with unconfirmed estimates that the number could have topped 100,000. Police officials put the figure at 20,000, while GSEE and ADEDY told Dow Jones Newswires that a total of 50,000 took part in their protests alone, while the communist-backed PAME union, also on the streets Wednesday, usually attracts twice as many people at its protests as the other unions.

GSEE described it as the largest protest ever and said "the struggle and the mobilization of workers will continue and will intensify as long as these harsh and unfair measures aren't withdrawn."

The president of ADEDY, Spyros Papaspyros, said: "This rally was double the size of the largest rally that has ever been held in Greece...tomorrow afternoon, we will also be holding a protest in front of Parliament, and if the government does not listen, there will be more strike action next week."

And PAME executive member Lefteris Papaconstantopoulos said: "We held rallies in 67 cities that attracted a mass turnout, and it's going to take some time for us to gather the numbers, but it was multiple times higher than our biggest protests we ever had for the May Day mobilizations."

PAME also vowed to continue and intensify the protests. "We will be holding another protest tomorrow [1500 GMT] in the center of the capital because the struggle has just begun," Papaconstantopoulos said.