NEWS

Teachers due to decide whether to extend strike

The local chapters of the secondary school teachers’ union, OLME, are to convene Thursday to decide whether to continue next week a strike over the government’s decision to force hundreds of educators into a mobility scheme that is one of the milestones Greece needs to reach to receive further bailout funding.

The teachers are on strike for the whole of this week and, according to unionists, have been participating in high numbers in the walkout. The Education Ministry says participation has been at about 35 percent. Primary school teachers also joined the strike Wednesday as part of protest action called by civil servants’ union ADEDY. Some 15,000 people are estimated to have taken part in Wednesday’s demonstration in central Athens.

Doctors, nurses and administrative staff at public hospitals are due to strike Thursday in protest at the transfer of colleagues to other sectors of the civil service as part of the mobility scheme.

The Education Ministry is also due to present Thursday the list of 1,765 university administrative staff that will be moved, as well as the eight or nine institutions from which they will be transferred. Greece needs to have 12,500 civil servants in its mobility program by the end of the month if it is to get another 1 billion euros in loans next month.

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