A week of mass strike action has begun in Greece in protest at large public sector layoffs and forced transfers, bbc.co.uk informs. State school teachers walked out on Monday in the first of a planned five-day rolling strike. Civil servants have called a separate two-day strike on Wednesday, backed by universities, doctors and lawyers. The job cuts are part of bailout conditions imposed by international creditors, due to meet in Athens to discuss the next loan installment. So far Greece has received two aid packages totaling about EUR 240 bln. It will need around EUR 10 bln more to cover a funding gap. Officials from the so-called lending troika – the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – will convene in Athens this week to decide on the next EUR 1 bln instalment. Some 4,500 civil servants – mostly teaching staff – were already redeployed at the end of July.
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