Greek Public Transport Workers Set to Strike Tomorrow to Protest Wage Cuts

Public transport in Athens and train services across Greece will be paralyzed tomorrow as workers protest against cuts in wages and bonuses and reorganization of state-controlled companies.

Public transport in Athens and train services across Greece will be paralyzed tomorrow as workers protest against cuts in wages and bonuses and reorganization of state-controlled companies.

The 24-hour strike by state transportation workers takes place between visits by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, who is in Athens today, and European Union Economic Monetary Commissioner Olli Rehn, who arrives in the capital Dec. 9.

Strauss-Kahn and Rehn are likely to discuss the state- company restructuring, wage and bonus cuts and the transfer of employees to other positions. The changes to state enterprises are among conditions imposed by the EU and the IMF in exchange for a 110 billion-euro ($148 billion) bailout of the country in May.

The Greek Civil Servants Confederation, or ADEDY, Greece’s largest public-sector union, will hold a rally in Athens today to coincide with Strauss-Kahn’s visit. Communist trade union PAME will also hold a protest before marching to parliament.

On Dec. 15, ADEDY and the General Confederation of Labor, the country’s largest private-sector union, will hold a 24-hour general strike against austerity measures in the 2011 budget, including public-sector cuts and the loosening of labor laws for private companies.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Stoukas in Athens at astoukas@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Angela Cullen at acullen8@bloomberg.net