Greek strikes to affect Cyprus flights; public sector chaos in Athens

A 24 hour strike scheduled by Greek air traffic controllers for Wednesday as part of wider public sector strike is expected to affect Cyprus’ flight schedule, according to Hermes Airports spokesperson Adamos Aspris.
He said that a total of 29 flights, 15 departures and 14 arrivals, are expected to be affected by the strike, adding that 27 of the flights will be cancelled, while the remaining two will be rescheduled.
The affected flights are from and to Athens, Thessaloniki, Rhodes and Heraklion. Flights from and to Paphos airport are not expected to be affected by the strike.
All airlines will be grounded, trains halted and tax offices shut when Greek state workers strike against austerity measures on Wednesday, defying a plea by the government to rally behind its effort to fend off national bankruptcy.
Some state schools will close and hospitals will have only emergency staff in the first nationwide strike against EU/IMF-prescribed salary cuts and layoffs after a summer lull.
The country's main labour unions ADEDY and GSEE expect hundreds of thousands of people to strike and thousands to take to the streets.
Communist union group PAME is expected to stage a separate rally. Police, fire brigade and coastguard unions said they would join the central Athens demonstrations.
The country's main labour unions, representing about half Greece's 5 million-strong workforce, have staged repeated strikes since Greece asked the EU and the IMF for a 110 bln-euro bailout.
They say a new wave of salary cuts and pension reductions, tax hikes and layoffs announced last month are hurting only the poor and pushing the economy deeper into recession. They have called a general strike on October 19.
Workers at state utilities marked for privatisation, such as dock workers at the country's ports in Piraeus and Thessaloniki and Public Power Corporation and OTE Telecoms employees, will join the strike.