Greek government to arrest striking teachers as austerity cuts bite

The Greek government this week threatened to arrest high school teachers if they strike work, in a move would serve to reassure Greece's foreign creditors that the country would press ahead with its harsh austerity measures and unpopular reforms.

The announcement is the third instance of the Greek government invoking emergency laws this  year to force strikers to return to work.

Greece is to receive €7.5 billion in loans soon, the latest tranche of a €240-billion rescue package signed in 2010. Athens has no money for pensions and wage payments that ferll due this month. To cope with personnel shortfall, Athens has drawn up plans to introduce additional hours of work each week for high school teachers, with plans to transfer 4,000 of them to remote regions of the country.

According to Reuters, the government agreed to dismiss some 15,000 public-sector workers by the end of 2014, in a move that is seen as being taboo.  With this the government met a key demand by the EU and International Monetary Fund to qualify for further rescue loans.

OLME, the union representing the teachers, said around 10,000 part-time teachers could be dismissed on expiry of their temporary contracts. The union has called for a 24-hour strike when university exams get under way on 17 May.

Meanwhile, the government insists that the university entrance exams would go ahead as planned later this month. According to English daily newspaper Kathimerini published in Athens, the government would force educators to work by issuing them with civil mobilisation orders.

After talks with prime minister Antonis Samaras last Friday, education minister Constantinos Arvanitopoulos had insisted there was no question of the exams being put off.

He said the government was determined to protect students' and parents' peace of mind.

Earlier, OLME had said teachers would walk off the job on Friday, 17 May, which was the first day that senior high school students were due to sit their university entrance exams.

According to the union, its members would then go on a five-day strike from Monday, 20 May, subject to approval of the move by its local chapters.

Describing the move as threat to society, the education ministry also slammed OLME's decision to allow the strike to stand even if just 30 per cent of its members voted to support the action.