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Greece to Fire 30K Workers

Budget deficit will fall short of EU, IMF targets

By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 2, 2011 3:35 PM CDT

(Newser) – The Greek economic tragedy took another hair-raising turn today, Reuters reports. Enacting an austerity plan to attract EU and IMF loans, politicians there announced a new plan to place 30,000 workers in a "labor reserve" where they will earn partial pay and be laid off in a year. "The labor reserve measure was approved unanimously" by the Greek cabinet, says a deputy minister who took part in the meeting.

Greece will also fall short of budget deficit targets set by the IMF and EU for this year and next, according to numbers published today. The deficit will hit 8.5% of GDP in 2011, well above the 7.6% target, and is expected to drop to 6.8% in 2012, barely missing a 6.5% target. Greek leaders blame their higher-than-forecast deficits on a contracting economy, but lenders accuse them of failing to enact much-needed structural changes.

Protesters from a communist-backed union chant slogans in an anti-austerity protest in central Athens, with several thousand people outside the Greek Parliament, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011.
Protesters from a communist-backed union chant slogans in an anti-austerity protest in central Athens, with several thousand people outside the Greek Parliament, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011.   (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Protesters from a communist-backed union chant slogans in an anti-austerity protest in central Athens, with several thousand people outside the Greek Parliament, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011.
Protesters from a communist-backed union chant slogans in an anti-austerity protest in central Athens, with several thousand people outside the Greek Parliament, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011.   (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 15 comments
hopeandchange
Oct 3, 2011 12:13 AM CDT
" a new plan to place 30,000 workers in a "labor reserve"" oh yeah, the government teat suckers laying around at home smoking pot on half pay is sooooo much better than them laying around the government offices and smoking pot.  Yep thats austerity all right.
Non-deep-thinker
Oct 2, 2011 10:37 PM CDT
This is what happens when the money vanishes, for whatever reason.   A family, a town, a city, a country, a globe. Putting inexperienced politicians in power and having them continue spending until all the money is gone is a recipe for every kind of disaster.
guvner
Oct 2, 2011 9:43 PM CDT
"Spiegel" has a fascinating article on the more silent revolt going on in Greece. Forget the lefties and lowlife anarchists protesting and causing havoc in the streets - they probably don't work or pay taxes anyway - the real cause of worry among Greek officials stems from the tax paying middle class: "This business owners' absolute refusal to pay any taxes resembles an uprising of the ownership class, rather than the working class, a rebellion of the self-employed business owners who have long been the backbone of Greek society. These are not the people who weaseled their way into Greece's oversized civil service; these are people who put their money in the private sector, working 12-hour days, seven days a week." http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/a-787847.html

 
IMF • Greece • budget deficit • Greece bailout • greece debt • European Union debt crisis

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