Strike action heats up over salary cuts
Several sectors in the civil service that are on a so-called «special pay-scale» because of the nature of their work, are ramping up the pressure on the government to rethink slashing salaries in their sectors as part of a package of horizontal cuts across the civil service.
Hospital doctors started the action on Wednesday with a strike that began at 11 a.m. and will continue until the end of the morning shift, culminating with a protest march at Syntagma Square at noon.
In northern Greece, a group of doctors and administrators at the General University Hospital of Thessaloniki barged into the director’s office demanding to be paid money owed for overtime and emergency shifts, saying that further salary cuts would push them to take more action.
Meanwhile, six unions representing different sectors of the judiciary have organized a protest rally for Wednesday at 12.30 p.m. in front of the Supreme Court on Alexandras Avenue, while police, firefighting and coast guard officers are expected to hold a rally on Thursday afternoon at the Kallimarmaro Stadium.
The issue of salary cuts is also expected to be focal point of a meeting on Wednesday between university rectors, who have said that they are ready to begin striking on Monday if average cuts of 17.5 percent are imposed on their wages.
