Greek, Portuguese Workers Strike, Protest Against Deficit Cuts

March 4 (Bloomberg) — Greek demonstrators took over the Finance Ministry building in central Athens, blocking streets in the city center, and Portuguese schools and hospitals were shut as unions stepped up protests against government deficit cuts.

In Athens, about 200 members of the PAME union group, aligned with the Communist Party of Greece, occupied the six- story ministry building today while protesters took over the nearby General Accounting Office, according to a police spokeswoman. Another group blocked a central road in downtown Athens, snarling traffic.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou yesterday unveiled 4.8 billion euros ($6.6 billion) of additional deficit cuts as he tries to convince European Union allies and investors he can tame the region’s biggest budget gap. EU officials praised the moves and Greek bonds gained on the measures, which include a 30 percent cut to three bonus-salary payments to civil servants.

“The measures are grossly unfair,” Dimitris Bratis, the president of the Greek teaching federation, which will strike for 24 hours tomorrow, told NET TV today. “We’re being asked to pay for the crisis. Greek taxpayers are being asked to foot the bill again.”

The main union for public workers, ADEDY, called a three- hour work stoppage for tomorrow and a protest rally in the city center that the country’s private-sector union group, representing 2 million Greek workers, will also join, according to spokesman Stathis Anestis. Most unions representing public- transport services also called a 24-hour strike tomorrow, affecting trams, rail and bus services in the Greek capital as well as the Athens subway.

Portuguese Strikes

Portugal’s public workers held a 24-hour strike today to protest a wage freeze that’s part of government efforts to convince the EU and investors that it can pare its own budget deficit to 8.3 percent of output from 9.3 percent last year.

The Greek Finance Ministry building was draped with a banner urging Greeks to “rise up” against the budget measures and protesters on the roof of the building exhorted passersby to join a protest march by PAME scheduled for later today. The same group blockaded the Athens stock exchange headquarters last week, preventing staff from entering the building.

ADEDY said it is considering rescheduling its March 16 24- hour strike, the third this year, to next week. The General Confederation of Workers of Greece’s executive met today to decide on new strike and protests.

Papandreou’s package includes reductions in spending for education and an increase in value-added taxes, as well as cuts to the bonuses paid to civil servants for holidays and a pension freeze. The measures are due to be voted on tomorrow in parliament, where Papandreou has a 10-seat majority.

The GSEVEE federation, which represents small businesses and craftsmen, said the measures are “neither fair nor effective.”

“The attempt to fix the fiscal crisis underlines clearly the government’s desire to move the cost of its efforts to the real economy,” Nikos Skorinis, the secretary of GSEVEE, said in an e-mailed statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Maria Petrakis in Athens at mpetrakis@bloomberg.net