ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Civil servants in Greece have walked off the job in a 24-hour strike to protest austerity measures and are demanding wage and pension increases as well as the abolition of all legislation imposed as part of the country’s international bailouts.
Wednesday’s strike is due to affect local government. State hospital workers also participated. Hundreds of people gathered for protest marches in central Athens.
To tackle a crippling financial crisis, successive governments from 2010 imposed big tax hikes and spending cuts, including on pensions and salaries, in return for billions of euros in emergency loans from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund.
Greece saw its economy shrink by a quarter, while unemployment hit nearly 28 percent during the bailout years. The country’s third and final bailout ended in August.
