Unions to hold rallies as House debates austerity

The civil servants’ union ADEDY and PAME, the labor union affiliated with the Communist Party (KKE), are both planning rallies in central Athens this evening to express opposition to a new raft of austerity measures that are to go to a parliamentary vote later tonight. PAME has called on members to converge in Omonia Square at 7.30 p.m. while ADEDY’s rally is to start at Syntagma Square half an hour later. The union representing state hospital workers, known by its acronym POEDIN, is among those that will join ADEDY’s supporters in central Athens tonight. Workers are protesting further cuts to state spending and an overhaul of public sector salaries. “The national health service and the system for social welfare are being demolished,” POEDIN said in a statement yesterday.