Strike Greek union calls for November 6-7

Greece's main union on Wednesday called a 48-hour general strike for November 6-7 in protest at a new wave of austerity measures unveiled by the government in order to unlock EU-IMF bailout loans. "The central aim and demand of the unions is the rejection (by parliament) of unacceptable, destructive and coercive measures imposed by the troika," the GSEE union said in a statement, referring to the EU, IMF and European Central Bank. Greece's coalition government earlier on Wednesday passed a law through parliament that facilitates the sale of state companies, and unveiled a budget pledging nearly 9.4 billion euros ($12.2 billion) in cuts next year. Most of the savings will come from pensions and state salaries that have already been drastically reduced over the past two years. A union official said the 48-hour strike was timed to coincide with the dates on which the budget and other reform measures are expected to be debated by parliament next week. The Greek government must approve the latest austerity round, worth 13.5 billion over the next two years, before it runs out of money on November 16. Eurozone finance ministers are to discuss on November 12 whether Athens will be given a 31.2-billion-euro loan instalment from its EU-IMF financial assistance package, which is tied to reform progress.