AFP - The Greek government launched Friday a campaign to reduce salaries at state-run companies and give employers more flexibility in firing workers, two deeply unpopular measures sought by the EU and the IMF.
Prime Minister George Papandreou, addressing parliament a day after his government adopted the draft reforms, spoke of "a tough fight" ahead for Greece.
"Our priority is to maintain jobs so that at the end of the tunnel we return to growth with as few (job) losses as possible."
The government draft text, to be debated by parliament on Tuesday, would make it easier for employers to shed workers by weakening the terms of collective bargaining accords.
The draft would maintain the minimum monthly salary at 740 euros (980 dollars) while opening the way toward lower salaries in the private sector.
In state enterprises, reductions of between 10 and 25 percent are proposed for workers earning more than 1,800 euros a month.
For every five departures, only one new worker would be hired.
The adoption of such reforms, which would follow a first round of austerity measures aimed at reducing the Greek public deficit, is a condition posed by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund for release of a 15-billion-euro installment from a 110-billion-euro EU-IMF rescue package accorded Greece in May.
The bailout is aimed at helping Greece through an acute financial crisis, characterised by a huge debt and public deficit.
Greek trade unions, representing both public and private workers, have called for a demonstration outside parliament against the labour and wage measures on Tuesday, the day the draft is to be voted on by lawmakers.
A general strike, the eighth this year, is planned for Wednesday.
Separately, the Greek finance ministry reported Friday that the public deficit as of November had been reduced by 27.4 percent to 18.620 billion euros.
The government target for the full year is a reduction of 33.2 percent.
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