Municipal services across Greece will be closed on Sept. 12-13 after workers called a 48-hour strike to protest budget cuts, joining teachers, judges, doctors, military staff and others who walked off the job, with more set to come. The country’s two biggest labor unions, representing public and private workers, are planning a general strike later this month against government plans to make another $14.6 billion in cuts and begin procedures to lay off and fire as many as 35,000 workers over the next two years.
The Central Union of Greek Municipalities said that planned cuts of up to 30% in municipal budgets this year, coming on top of an average reduction of around 60% over the 2009-2012 period, will mean that local authorities will not be able to run social services such as day-care centers for children and the elderly, free medical clinics and food-assistance programs, and will also cut back on the maintenance of municipal sports venues and playgrounds, among others.
Municipal workers rallied on Sept. 12 at Klafthmonos Square in downtown Athens, followed by a meeting with Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras. On Sept. 13, union representatives are expected to meet with Parliament’s Public Administration and Finance Committees. Earlier, Interior Minister Evripidis Stylianidis suggested that Greek municipalities could be allowed to raise their own taxes and use their properties as collateral to gain funding from banks, thereby weaning the local authorities off public money. In an interview with Sunday’s Kathimerini, Stylianidis insisted that mayors know “the central government’s financial capabilities have been exhausted.”
(Source: ANSA)
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