Thousands protest in Greece against pension overhaul
Thousands protested in Greece on Tuesday against a new pension reform as a good 24-hour strike paralyzed transport and offerings.Some 10,000 persons demonstrated in the administrative centre against the reform, which encourages an extended stay static in the workforce, police said.
The labor action brought public transport in Athens, intercity trains and ferry ship services to a standstill.Civil servants also walked away the work and journalists will stage a three-hour work stoppage against the pension reform."This bill is practically the continuation of (austerity) regulations introduced in 2010-2019," civil servants' union ADEDY stated.
Unions are also holding protests found in Thessaloniki and other key cities.The brand new conservative government says the reform, to be voted by Friday, can make the troubled Greek pension system viable to 2070.
The labor ministry says the overhaul the third major revamp in ten years will contain pension increases and reduce penalties for pensioners still working. Successive governments contain attemptedto reform the pension program, whose previously generous handouts are seen among the factors behind the decade-long Greek credit debt crisis.
"The government can pay dearly for the additional dismantling of social insurance, as (its predecessors) did. The Greek people remember," said Communist party basic secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas.A separate government bill to stiffen regulations on road protests is also triggering anger among unions.
Chronic overspending and the inaccurate reporting of the budget deficit spooked creditors this year 2010, and required 3 successive bailouts by europe and the International Monetary Fund to avert a Greek bankruptcy.In substitution for billions of euros in rescue funds, Greece had to look at unpopular austerity reforms and pension cuts.
