(MENAFN- AFP) Thousands of Greek trade unionists demonstrated on Thursday against planned new cuts demanded by international creditors in a general strike that shut down several key sectors.
According to police, some 15,000 people took part in separate union protests in Athens and another 5,000 in Thessaloniki.
Civil servants, bank staff, merchant seamen, railway workers and state-employed doctors were among professionals taking part in the 24-hour stoppage against the measures, which are scheduled to be approved by lawmakers at the weekend.
The country's international creditors -- fellow EU states and the International Monetary Fund -- want Greece to overhaul its labour legislation to make crippling strikes less likely while also facilitating layoffs.
Official data on Thursday showed persistently high unemployment figures at 23.1 percent in September, with an increase of some 60,500 jobs compared to a year earlier.
Unions say hidden unemployment is far higher.
A new budget containing around one billion euros ($1.07 billion) from extra taxation on items including cars, fixed telephone service, pay TV, fuel, tobacco, coffee and beer is to be approved by parliament early Sunday.
Public spending on salaries and pensions will also be cut by 5.7 billion euros next year.
Unions are also angry about plans to raise over 2.0 billion euros next year from privatisations, including 1.2 billion euros from the sale of regional airports.
"These (austerity) policies worsen our living standards every day," said Evi, a Communist unionist who declined to give her surname.
Already huge, Greece's debt after three consecutive bailouts is on course to reach a mammoth 315 billion euros ($334 billion), or around 180 percent of gross domestic output this year, according to the latest EU data.
Greece on Tuesday rejected pressure to extend its painful austerity programme beyond 2018 as part of a deal to bridge differences between the squabbling international creditors.
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