Greek power company workers walk off job on 48-hour strike to protest austerity cuts

Greek power company workers strike

ATHENS, Greece — Greek state power company workers and hospital nurses went on strike Tuesday to protest government austerity measures designed to pull the country out of a major financial crisis.

The 48-hour electricity utility strike shut down seven power units, but did not aim to create power cuts that would affect consumers, the workers’ union said. State hospital nurses held a one-day strike and some 400 union members demonstrated peacefully outside the health ministry in Athens.

Greece is under pressure from the EU to bring its finances into order. Athens has pledged to slash its budget deficit from an estimated 12.7 percent of gross domestic product in 2009 to 8.7 percent this year, and bring the shortfall under the EU limit of 3 percent of GDP in 2012.

The government announced a euro4.8 billion austerity package recently, including cuts to civil servants’ pay, pension freezes and consumer tax hikes. A sales tax hike from 19 to 21 percent this week has increased the cost of fuel and other consumer goods and services. The new draft tax bill has been submitted to Parliament for discussion.

Unions have reacted angrily, holding two large demonstrations in central Athens this month that were marred by protesters clashing with riot police.

The civil servants’ union has called a new Athens protest later Tuesday. On Thursday, taxi drivers and petrol station owners will go on strike to protest a draft law aimed to crack down on rampant tax evasion that will force them to issue receipts.

The country won some respite from market pressure later Tuesday, after ratings agency Standard & Poor’s took Greece off credit watch — a day after eurozone nations laid out a blueprint of possible bilateral loans for the indebted country.

Standard & Poor’s said the government’s austerity package was “appropriate” to achieve its target of reducing its budget deficit, and that it was not thinking about downgrading the country’s credit rating for now.