Athens grinds to a halt

Buses and trains stopped running, garbage collectors stopped working, and hospitals worked with emergency staff on Tuesday as employees went on strike in protest at government plans to cut thousands of public sector jobs.

Public sector workers launched their 24-hour strike under the slogan "General strike - we are people, not numbers."

They were joined in their protests by other groups, such as bank employees or aviation industry employees, who walked off the job for four hours from midday, disrupting domestic air traffic.

"We are continuing our fight to put an end to policies that annihilate workers and drive the economy to an even greater recession," said the private sector union GSEE, which called the strike with public sector union ADEDY. Together they represent nearly 2.5 million workers.

Greece must shrink its civil service sector to be able to receive more bailout funds from foreign lenders.

Municipal workers in the capital have announced a march on parliament, where a vote on another round of reforms is to take place this Wednesday.

The latest reform bill, which was agreed with its European Union and International Monetary Fund lenders, is a condition for 6.8 billion euros ($8.9 billion) in aid.

Plans include job cuts for teachers, municipal police and local government posts.12,500 public workers are to be placed in a so-called "mobility pool" by September this year, giving them eight months to find work in another department or lose their jobs.

The Greek unemployment rate stands at nearly 27 percent, which is double the EU average.

rg/kms (Reuters, dpa)