Public services disrupted as industrial action continues
Public services were expected to be disrupted on Wednesday, the second day of a 48-year-old strike called by Greece’s civil servants’ union, ADEDY, in protest to the government’s mobility scheme which includes transfers and layoffs.
Taking part in the industrial action on Wednesday were employees at tax offices and social security funds, teachers as well as university and Ministry of Culture staff. State hospitals and health centers were operating on skeleton staff.
The Administrative Reform Ministry must place up to 25,000 workers in the mobility scheme by the end of the year as part of the country’s bailout program. While a first target of 12,500 workers had been met according to ministry officials, the ministry has asked the country’s lenders, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank to extend the end-of-Decmeber deadline for the remmaining 12,500 members of staff.
Meanwhile, Greek police ordered Syntagma, Evangelismos and Panepistimio metro stations to close on Wednesday morning as a number of rallies were being organized in central Athens.
