WSJ reports:
The Greek government on Wednesday announced a new austerity plan that will yield €4.8 billion euros in savings, as Prime Minister George Papandreou called on the European Union to show its support...
The government decided at a cabinet meeting to move ahead with steep cuts in civil-service salaries and entitlements, and to raise Greece's sales tax by two percentage points.
The measures effectively include slashing more than 60% of one month's pay for public-sector workers by cutting 30% of their current Christmas, Easter and holiday bonuses, the official said. Greek civil servants get an extra salary at Christmas and another through bonuses during the Easter holiday and the month of August....
State pensions, which the Greek government has so far left untouched as it struggles to bring down the budget deficit, will be frozen, the government said.
The cabinet also decided on an increase to the tax on tobacco and alcoholic beverages...
Labor unions are already on a war footing. "The measures will be the fatal blow for the average income earner. We will fight back with all means. Those who have money must pay, but those who don't must be supported. But those measures only hurt the poor," Spyros Papaspyros, president of the civil servants umbrella union ADEDY, said. ADEDY has already called for a 24-hour general strike on March 16.
"The measures will be the fatal blow for the average income earner. We will fight back with all means. Those who have money must pay, but those who don't must be supported. But those measures only hurt the poor," Spyros Papaspyros
ReplyDeleteSpoken like a true commie...