ATHENS - Greece was expected to face a series of strikes Thursday by workers protesting low wages and extended working hours, mostly affecting mainly transportation, banking, and numerous supermarkets and small shops.
Employees of the Greek flag carrier Olympic Airlines said they would go ahead with a daylong strike Thursday despite a court ruling it "illegal and abusive."
The airline will maintain one flight per domestic destination, and one flight per foreign country during the strike, a company spokesman told AFP.
Workers in a number of sectors were expected to strike for 24 hours, including employees at banks, the post office, railroads, the public electricity utility and the semi-public telephone company.
The General Confederation of Workers with 600,000 members, Greece's largest union, and the powerful Federation of Greek Civil Servants with 200,000 members, have called for a work stoppage for four hours Thursday between 12:00 and 4:00 pm (1000-1400 GMT).
In the Greek capital, public transport on metro, bus and trolleys was expected be paralyzed during the four hours.
A demonstration in the center of Athens was scheduled for 1:00 pm.
Elsewhere, a number of supermarkets and small shops were to be closed to protest against a proposed law to extend the opening hours of the stores.
Teachers were also expected to down tools for four hours.
03/16/2005 18:07 GMT