"These neoliberal and barbarous policies, which are driving workers and society into poverty for the benefit of creditors and bankers, are taking us back to the last century," said public-sector union Adedy in a statement. "They must not pass!"
Vassilis Theodorakopoulos, a 53-year-old dental technician who works for the country's main public health-care fund, said he was protesting a 20% cut in his salary, as well as a plan to expand the working week for public servants to 40 hours—in line with the private sector—from 37˝ hours currently.
"Personally, I don't think there should be a difference between the public and private sector," he said. "What we are fighting for is a reduction in private-sector working hours."
He said he also objects to a plan to eliminate free dental braces for children, his specialty.
According to a poll published in the center-left Ethnos newspaper earlier this month, 67.7% of Greeks think the government should proceed with economic reforms, and 63.7% supported the need for privatization or other measures to exploit state-owned assets. A further 59.7% said they supported abolishing the current lifetime job guarantee for public servants.
A separate poll for the privately owned Mega television channel this week showed that 60.3% of Greeks want the bailout deal renegotiated, and 26% thought Greece should scrap the program altogether and abandon the euro.
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