Greek labour unions will strike in June to protest pension reform and are trying to mobilise workers across Europe to take joint action against austerity measures, the private sector union GSEE said on Thursday.
Greek unions want the strike to coincide with the debate of the pension bill in parliament. It will be the fifth strike this year by GSEE and its public sector sister union ADEDY which represent 2.5 million workers, or half the country's workforce.
"We will certainly strike against the pension reform as the bill is discussed in parliament. We'll be pushing until the end to prevent the worse," GSEE head Yannis Panagopoulos told Reuters in an interview.
Parliament is expected to vote on the pension bill, which raises the retirement age and curtails early pensions, sometime in June. But unions say it will further hurt the poor who already have been hit by government pay-cuts and tax hikes.
The pension bill is part of a 110 billion euro ($135 billion) EU/IMF rescue deal agreed this month to help Greece pull itself out of a debt crisis that has shaken the euro zone.
Workers across Europe are now calling for strikes and protests as countries such as Spain, Italy and Portugal take austerity steps to prevent a contagion of the Greek crisis.
Italy's CGIL union, grouping more than 5 million members, announced plans on Wednesday for a four-hour general strike in June, after the Italian government approved a 25-billion euro austerity package this week. [ID:nLDE64P1HB]
Portugal's largest umbrella union has also called for an anti-austerity rally in Lisbon on Friday.
"There are protests all around, sometimes milder than ours. Workers across Europe are facing a situation which they haven't experienced before and they can't see the future," Panagopoulos said.
His union was trying to coordinate strikes and protests.
"We are trying to do it," he said. "We have already talked with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and we are discussing with the German unions which are very strong."
But it will be very difficult to coordinate with other European unions and agree on a joint protest, Panagopoulos said.
"There is no institution to call for such a strike, there must be negotiations in many countries in the EU to achieve a coordinated action," he said.
