Greek labour unions to stage 24-hour strike in May - The Best from Greece

 Amid concerns that fiscal shortfalls might eventually force Greece into a debt restructuring, the Socialist government is expected to reveal this week how it plans to cut spending and increase revenues in 2012-2014.

"We'll stage a 24-hour strike in May to protest against the government's austerity policies which only burden workers," the general secretary of public sector union ADEDY, Ilias Iliopoulos, told Reuters. "The most possible date is May 11."

The government's privatisation programme and plans to make public sector employees work longer hours without a pay rise, were also among the reasons for the strike, Iliopoulos said.

Greeks staged repeated anti-austerity strikes in 2010, the year the debt-choked country asked its European peers and the International Monetary Fund for a 110 billion euro bailout in exchange for pay cuts and structural reforms.

Unions have said that a march of about 100,000 in Athens on Feb. 23 was the prelude to a wave of protests this year.