Greece loses 400,000 civil service jobs to crisis

Moscow, Nov 23 (IANS/RIA Novosti) The number of Greek civil servants has fallen by 400,000 in three years of crisis, Administrative Reform Minister Antonis Maniatakis said.

There were nearly one million civil servants in 2009 but now there are just 640,000, he told a parliamentary hearing.

Considering that more than 40,000 will be pensioned off before the end of the year, no more than 600,000 will be left, he added.

More civil servants should be moved into sectors such as the police, education, local administrations and healthcare, he said.

Wage and personnel cuts in a number of public sectors are part of new austerity measures approved by parliament last week and were vigorously opposed by civil servants.

“We continue our battle to demand from the government that there isn’t a single layoff in the public sector,” said Kostas Tsikrikas of civil servants’ trade union ADEDY, according to Euronews.

Civil service employees have also seen their salaries cut 40 percent since 2010 and their holiday bonuses scrapped.

−−IANS/RIA Novosti

pm/

IANS 2012-11-23 03:16:07