Greece passes pension reform bill

Greece's parliament has narrowly passed the conservative government's controversial pension reform bill that triggered mass public protests.

The bill passed with 151 votes in favour, 13 against and 136 abstentions.

The reform is to eliminate most early retirement schemes, merge pension funds and cap auxiliary pensions.

The plans have outraged unions and civil servants. Tens of thousands of workers took to the streets on Wednesday in a series of strikes.

Athens clashes

As legislators debated the bill inside parliament, police and protesters clashed outside the building.

"The government is stealing the people's money. It's that simple," the leader of main opposition socialists, George Papandreou, said before his party's 102 deputies walked out of the vote.

"People have worked hard for their pension rights. Now, they are being taken away from them in the most arrogant way."

The conservatives have 152 MPs in the 300-seat parliament, but one did not vote due to illness.

A nationwide strike by civil servants on Wednesday paralysed transport and closed public offices.

Trade unions said millions of people took part in the 24-hour action, which was marked by clashes in Athens.

Re-elected last September, the conservative government of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis wants to overhaul Greece's debt-ridden pension system.

It had warned the system faces collapse unless the sweeping reforms are implemented.

More than 130 social security and pension funds are to be merged into 13 funds, cutting administration costs.

The government also wants to raise the retirement age in some sectors, and give incentives to those who continue working after the retirement age, which currently stands at 65 for men and 60 for women.

A survey by the banking unions showed that 71% of the population opposes the pension reforms and 69% supports the strike.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

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Greek general strike

For more details on yesterday's strike and demonstrations see;

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BBC

CNN

IHT

Kathimerini (in English)

Greece grinds to a halt

With the country in the grip of a massive 24 hour strike much of Greece's economic life has ground to a halt as workers groups as diverse as road cleaners and lawyers stopped work and protested. In addition the streets of most major cities have filled with uncollected rubbish and are nightly plunged into darkness by rolling power cuts. The conservative government's plans to reform Greece's problematic pension funds have continued to stir up a wave of protests which are expected to continue even after tomorrow's parliamentary vote on the reforms.

The government of Kostas Karamanlis insists that the Greece's aging population means that the only way to prepare for the future is to slim down the country's 133 pension funds to 13, reduce payments to those retiring early and increase the retirement age for other groups. Labor Minister Fani Palli-Petralia added that the changes would safeguard citizen's pension rights  for the foreseeable future.

Opposition leaders argue that the deficits in the contributions to the pension funds are the result of the unwillingness of many employers to pay contributions. Indeed the Greek state itself owes the nearly 8 billion euros in unpaid dues according to the Rizospastis newspaper.

Also the country has seen it's population increase by over a million during the last 15 year as many ethnic Greeks from the ex - Soviet republics moved to Greece along with immigrants from other countries such as Albania. Most are of working age, however, many work in agricultural and construction where, due to lax checks by the state and high levels of unemployment, businesses are able to avoid paying social security contributions.

An opinion poll carried out by VPRC showed that 69% of Greeks supported the strikes and over 70% disagreed with the government's reform plans.

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