Greek unions on Thursday called a general strike for June 15 against a new wave of austerity cuts imposed by the Socialist government under pressure from its international creditors.
The main labour organisations, private-sector GSEE and public-sector Adedy, will jointly mobilise against the cuts and a massive "sell-out" of state assets in a privatisation drive designed to reduce Greece's monstrous debt.
"We are not selling and we are not for sale," GSEE said in a statement in which it accused the government of succumbing to creditor "blackmail."
The EU, International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank, the 'troika' which last year saved Greece from bankruptcy with a 110-billion-euro ($158-billion) loan, have put strong pressure on Athens to deliver on promised reforms in return for continued funding.
The IMF has even threatened to withhold its share of the next loan instalment unless a long-term solution can be found to Greece's debt crisis which is once again showing signs of spiraling out of control.
Greek debt has exploded to over 350 billion euros and most analysts agree that the government will eventually be forced to restructure it, a move potentially damaging for investors, in order to maintain repayments.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou will on Friday hold an emergency meeting with his Luxembourg counterpart Jean-Claude Juncker, the chief policymaker of the eurozone, to address his country's crisis.
There are estimates that Athens could need over 60 billion euros in additional loans to cover its bills in 2012 and 2013.
The government has hurried along plans to privatise the cream of the state's remaining assets to break down EU resistance to a new bailout.
The full or partial sale of state assets includes Balkans telecom giant OTE, the near-monopoly Public Power Corporation, well-capitalised lender Hellenic Postbank and gaming operator OPAP, a major European betting company.
The unions also plan to hold another strike at all state companies for sale.
Two general strikes have already been held this year in Greece against the government's austerity measures.
This past week, scores of thousands of Greeks have gathered at Athens' main Syntagma Square to protest against successive waves of spending cuts and tax hikes that have brought a deep recession and many layoffs.
AFP
