Greek Civil Servants Start 2-Day Strike

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/business/global/greek-civil-servants-start-2-day-strike.html

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ATHENS — Greek public sector workers went on strike for the second time in a week on Tuesday, shutting schools and leaving hospitals with skeleton staff, as inspectors from Greece’s foreign lenders were investigating if the country was meeting its bailout targets.

From the municipal police to teachers, workers began a 48-hour strike against plans to cut thousands of public sector jobs, with public anger fueled by the killing of a rapper by a supporter of the far-right Golden Dawn party.

Adedy, the public sector umbrella union that organized the walkout, said government efforts to reduce the 600,000-strong Civil Service was “the most merciless plan” to eliminate workers’ rights.

The government has called the plan a “mobility scheme,” meaning that workers will have to find work in another department within eight months or be laid off. The workers say the government was firing them indiscriminately at a time when Greece was enduring its worst peacetime crisis and record unemployment.

The trio of the country’s international lenders — the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank — were due to meet with Administrative Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Tuesday.

The latest review by the lenders, which have bailed out Greece twice with a total of more than 240 billion euros, or $324 billion, will determine the size of a third bailout to keep the country afloat. The review, which began this week, is expected to last at least until the end of October.

Backed by a vocal antibailout opposition, which has openly called on citizens to take to the streets to overthrow the government, unions have stepped up protests in recent months.

Scores of municipal police forces dressed in black instead of their traditional green uniforms staged a mock funeral in Athens on Monday and somberly marched behind a hearse across the city center, carrying wreaths and singing psalms.

But the latest labor action has also turned into a protest to mark the fatal stabbing last week of Pavlos Fissas, a rap artist, by a self-described supporter of the far-right Golden Dawn party.

Adedy and a private sector union, GSEE, which together represent about 2.5 million workers, have brought people to the streets repeatedly since the crisis broke out in 2009. The two unions plan to stage an antifascism rally in Syntagma Square on Wednesday.

Syriza, a far-left political party, called on Greeks to join the rally “to defend democracy, dignity and civilization.”

“A massive presence will be the most resounding condemnation of the Golden Dawn murderers of Pavlos Fissas,” Syriza said.

Golden Dawn, Greece’s third most popular political party, has denied involvement in the killing and says the 45-year-old attacker, who has been charged with murder, is not a member.