Greek trade unions protest new bailout deal

Greek trade unions launched on Wednesday a new round of nationwide protests in reaction to the agreement the government clinched earlier this week with troika lenders on the next set of reforms which will unlock fresh bailout loans in May.As officials praised the deal as another step to stability and economic recovery, hundreds of protesters, participating in a symbolic rally staged in central Athens by the umbrella labor union of civil servants ADEDY, rejected the planned policies.They chanted that the reforms are a "deathblow" to low-income workers suffering from three years of harsh austerity, vowing to continue mobilizations over the next days and weeks.School teachers and doctors working in the public sector walked off their jobs during a work stoppage and gathered near the parliament building, raising banners with slogans against the new measures.They protested in particular the layoffs of 15,000 civil servants by 2015 under an administrative reform plan which was one of the prior actions requested by lenders before the disbursement of some 10-billion-euro (13.1-billion-U.S.-dollar) loan installments in coming weeks.The streamlining of overstaffed yet malfunctioning public services to slash costs and boost efficiency was a key point in talks between Greece and European Union and International Monetary Fund creditors over the past two months.Greek officials have been postponing the overhaul amidst a wave of paralyzing strikes and concern about the impact on unemployment rates and legal issues, since job positions in the public sector for life have been guaranteed for decades constitutionally.The current conservative-led coalition government broke a long-standing taboo and proceeded to the much needed reforms which could restore growth, as well as the sense of equality in society, local analysts commented.They noted that as one in four of the country's working force in the private sector of the economy is currently jobless amidst recession, civil servants have not been affected proportionally, despite cuts on their salaries since the outbreak of the crisis in 2010.Greek citizens appear divided over the issue, according to a new opinion poll released on Wednesday, three in 10 believe that there should be no dismissals and an equal percent of respondents are in favor. About 34.8 percent in the survey conducted for Alpha TV view positively only the firings of civil servants of poor performance or disciplinary cases.Greece moved away of the brink of bankruptcy with international rescue loans granted in return for painful spending cuts and economic reforms. Athens has won praises for the fiscal consolidation process, but still lags on the reform part of the bailout agreements.