Greeks Strike to Protest Latest Austerity Measures

By NIKI KITSANTONIS

DEC. 3, 2015

The New York Times

ATHENS — Workers across Greece walked off their jobs on Thursday, heeding a call by labor unions to join the second general strike in three weeks to protest a new round of austerity measures.

The 24-hour walkout shut down public services, disrupted public transportation, left ferries moored in ports, closed schools and forced hospitals to function with reduced staffs.

The police were on standby on street corners, and a helicopter circled over Athens as thousands of workers, pensioners and the unemployed rallied against the prospect of more belt-tightening measures demanded by the country’s foreign lenders. Many demonstrators held banners declaring “No more!” and “It won’t pass.”

The strike was the latest demonstration of discontent with the Syriza-led government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, a leftist who once railed against austerity at the head of demonstrations.

Mr. Tsipras came to power in January on a promise to end years of pain, but by the summer he had agreed to an international bailout program worth 86 billion euros, about $91 billion.

The rescue package, which came as the government was running out of money and as Greece was once again on the brink of leaving the euro, was the country’s third since 2010.

To secure support for the program, Mr. Tsipras called for new elections and was returned to power by a wide margin in September on a promise to enforce the latest bailout while easing its effect on the poorest Greeks.

After imposing a series of tax increases and pension cuts over the past few months, government officials are preparing to enforce a new set of economic changes, including rules for the management of delinquent bank loans and the creation of an independent state privatization fund.

Plans to streamline a costly and complex pension system by merging funds and by further trimming pension payments have fueled the most vehement protests.

The General Confederation of Greek Workers, which represents private sector employees, denounced the pending pension cuts as “a steamroller” that would bring the “total destruction of the social security system.”

The union also railed against “a sellout of state wealth” and called the national budget for 2016 “barbaric,” citing “a new barrage of taxes and dramatic cutbacks.”

Parliament is scheduled to vote on Saturday on the budget, which calls for €5.7 billion in spending cuts and tax increases for the rest of this year and 2016. The budget is expected to be approved because the government retains a majority in Parliament, albeit a narrow one of three seats.

It is less clear, however, whether a critical vote on pension changes in the coming weeks will secure enough support from lawmakers in the governing coalition between Syriza and the right-wing Independent Greeks to pass.

An attempt by Mr. Tsipras to win the support of opposition party leaders for the government’s pension proposals last week failed to yield a consensus.

Tentative expressions of support from a small party, the Union of Centrists, which entered Parliament for the first time in September, have fueled speculation that the coalition may be bolstered in the coming weeks, diminishing the risk that the fragile government will be toppled, at least for the moment.