Greek teachers have clashed with police as demonstrators took to the streets in capital, Athens, to protest against public sector layoffs and forced transfers in the austerity-hit nation.\n<\/p>\n
Police fired tear gas at striking teachers and school patrol guards who tried to enter the Administrative Reforms Ministry in the country™s capital city on Monday.\n<\/p>\n
The high school teachers’ union, OLME, started the five-day strike against a government move to place thousands of public sector workers in a self-styled mobility scheme.\n<\/p>\n
As part of a general restructuring of the public sector, Athens must place 25,000 workers in the mobility scheme by the end of the year.\n<\/p>\n
The government must also meet a mandatory dismissal of 15,000 public sector employees in 2013-14.\n<\/p>\n
The teachers said the firings or transfers are a œmajor blow” to secondary education and would compound the pain felt by austerity-hit households.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Lawyers, nurses and doctors are also expected to join the walkout, as the government aims to reform their professions.<\/p>\n
Greece has witnessed three years of austerity policies imposed by the government in a bid to win bailout loans from international creditors, including the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission.\n<\/p>\n
The country was severely hit by recession in 2008 due to fiscal mismanagement resulting in tax rises and spending cuts.\n<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Greece™s unemployment rate stands at more than double the eurozone’s average reading of 12.1 percent. Nearly one in four Greeks are unemployed.\n<\/p>\n
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