[size=75:1pdwv6y2]novinite 5 March 2010

Greece Paralyzed by New National Strike

A new nationwide strike against austerity measures is set to paralyse Greece on Friday, with government departments, municipal offices, banks, hospitals, schools and transport services all shutting down.

The strike comes a day after Greece's two main umbrella unions GSEE and ADEDY called for a three-hour work stoppage for March 5 to protest against the government's recently announced austerity measures.

Meanwhile Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is due in Berlin Friday for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, the leader of Europe's largest economy and widely seen as holding the veto over any EU bail-out of Greece.

The strike is against new budgetary measures, the third in recent months, which include cutting public sector bonuses by 30 per cent, freezing pensions, a new tax on luxury goods, alcohol and cigarettes and increasing consumer taxes - including a 21 per cent sales tax.

"
The measures are unjust and will only hurt the lower and middle-classes and push the country into a deeper recession with higher unemployment,"
said GSEE union President Giannis Panagopoulos.

Hundreds of demonstrators from the country's labour group PAME reportedly blocked Athens` two luxury hotels, the Hilton and the Grand Bretagne, on Friday preventing tourists and guests from entering or leaving the buildings.

Elsewhere in Athens, hundreds of employees of former state-owned Olympic Airways continued to occupy the General Accounting Office in central Athens, blocking roads outside.

More than 4,000 employees were laid-off after Olympic Airways was sold to Marfin Investment Group Holdings after several unsuccessful privatisation attempts in 2009.

Greece is now awaiting support from the European Union after announcing a new wave of cuts, worth some EUR 4.8 B in a bid to avert bankruptcy.