Municipal workers begin sit-ins at public buildings ahead of meeting

Municipal workers protesting government plans to streamline the public sector in line with creditors’ demands by disbanding the municipal police force and transferring officer to the police and placing 2,000 employees in a labor mobility scheme, began sit-ins at several public buildings on Wednesday morning.

Protesters have blockaded the entrances to the City of Athens’s Lioson Street branch, as well as the town halls of Nikaia, Elliniko and Aghios Dimitrios.

Municipal workers in Thessaloniki protested the plan by holding a rally.

The union representing local authority workers, who walked off the job on Monday and Tuesday, is to meet later on Wednesday to decide on further strike action.

POE-OTA also met on Tuesday, when it decided to scale up its action with Wednesday’s sit-ins. It also plans to appeal the government’s decision for public sector layoffs at the Council of State, the country’s highest administrative court.