Greek unions vow to go ahead with strike

Date: Monday 08 Feb 2010

Greek unions today said they will go ahead with a planned 24-hour walk-out on Wednesday in protest over the government’s austerity measures.

‘We will strike on Wednesday to defend our dignity, to put an end to our sacrifices on the altar of financial markets. These are pointless sacrifices,’ said Spyros Papaspyros, the president of the ADEDY public sector union.

A general strike could take place later this month. The walkouts come after Greece announced plans to cut its budget deficit below 3% of GDP by the end of 2012.

Under the plan, Greece aims to cut its budget deficit from nearly 13% of GDP. The European Union’s stability and growth pact states that all 16 member of the eurozone must limit their budget deficit to 3% of gross national product while public debt level must not exceed 60%.

Meanwhile, concerns continued to grow over fiscal woes in Portugal and Spain, pushing their five-year sovereign credit default spreads sharply wider.

Both Portugal and Spain are facing huge challenges as they struggle with big deficits.

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