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Thursday, 21 November 2024 | ||
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Athens News Agency: News in English, 10-03-04Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] LAOS leader on econ measuresPopular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) party leader George Karatzaferis stressed on Wednesday that "Greece should be salvaged", commenting on the government's latest round of austerity measures.Karatzaferis accused the country's political leadership, trade union leaders and the public figures, in general, of "failing for years to meet the challenges presented," while adding that "individual patriotism should set aside any personal benefits to have the country's badly hurt prestige restored." He also said that the measures announced should have been taken sooner and stressed that the government should not have waited for the last minute to take action. [02] Greek mountaineers to conquer the HimalayasA Greek team of mountaineers from Thessaly will depart on March 26 on an expedition to the Himalayas in Nepal. The team aims to climb Island Peak at an altitude of 6,189 metres. The team is comprised of four men and two women aged between 20 and 40. The team is headed by veteran mountain climber Nikos Magitsis, who conquered Mt. Everest, the world's highest peak, in May 2004. The Greek mountaineers are expected to return to Greece on April 11. Magitsis is one of the select few summiteers in the world to have scaled the highest mountains on all seven continents.[03] Work stoppage on FridayThe country's two largest umbrella federations have called a work-stoppage on Friday from 12:00 noon to the end of the shift, in protest of the supplementary austerity measures announced by the government on Wednesday.The work stoppage has been called by the Civil Servants Supreme Administrative Council (ADEDY) in cooperation with General Confederation of Workers in Greece (GSEE), which are also organising a demonstration on Friday outside the Greek parliament during the debate and vote on the draft law introducing the new austerity measures. The government on Wednesday tabled a bill in parliament on Wednesday containing the additional measures in tandem with the announcement of the measures. The bill, tabled under "urgent procedures", will be debated and voted on in parliament on Friday, after being discussed on Thursday by the relevant parliamentary committee. Moreover, ADEDY is examining the possibility of bringing forward a 24-hour strike it originally called for March 16 to sometime between 8 and 12 March, an announcement said. ADEDY's announcement said that "despite the trade union movement's reaction, the government has tabled a bill, to be voted in parliament under 'urgent procedures, on the unfair, antisocial and antidevelopment measures". It charged that the government's measures include a sharp decline in civil servants' incomes, upset of the social security system and increase in retirement ages, a freeze on public sector hiring, privatisation of state property, new tax burdens, a freeze on and reduction in pensions, cutbacks in the public investments program, and abolition of the collective labor agreements in the public utilities and state organisations (DEKO). Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |