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Europe: Strike disrupts air, rail, ferry traffic

Air, rail and ferry traffic ground to a halt in Greece on Tuesday and public offices shut down as workers walked off the job to protest the conservative government's economic policies.

Hundreds of thousands of Greeks took part in the 24-hour general strike, according to GSEE, the country's largest umbrella union.

"The country has effectively come to a halt," said union spokesman Efstathios Anestis. "Participation is very high, in many sectors it exceeds 90 percent of the work force."

Traffic on Athens' normally gridlocked streets was unusually light, as workers stayed away from the center where unions plan a demonstration at noon (0900 GMT)

State hospitals functioned with emergency staff while state schools, universities, post offices and tax offices were closed, as well as many banks. Some 200 domestic and international flights were canceled while all ferries were confined to port and the state rail! way company canceled most train services.

Lawyers, journalists and civil engineers were also on strike.

GSEE, which covers the private sector, and civil service umbrella union ADEDY called the strike to protest recent legislation reforming the country's fragmented pension system. The new law, passed in March, cuts back early retirement rights and merges lucrative pension funds with financially troubled ones.

The two umbrella unions represent some 2.5 million workers between them, or about half of Greece's total work force.

Unions also demand more state social spending, as well as salary and pension increases, and oppose government plans to privatize state carrier Olympic Airlines.

"Workers face many accumulated problems, mainly financial." Anestis said.

Olympic has canceled 150 flights - mostly domestic but including routes to London, Brussels, Rome, Frankfurt and Paris - while private Aegean Airlines canceled 46 domestic flights. Air traffic controllers will hold a four-hour strike from noon.

Athens public bus and metro networks were disrupted by work stoppages, while the capital's tram service was stopped all day.