Greece suffers power cuts as workers strike over austerity

Jun 24, 2011, 13:47 GMT

Athens - A strike at Greece's state power company led to widespread power cuts across the country Friday, just as parliament was ready to begin debating a new round of austerity measures.

Greece has been told that unless its parliament approves a 78-billion-euro (111-billion-dollar) savings and privatization package, it will not get the next tranche of a European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout.

Without the money, the Greek state will run out of money by the middle of July.

Power company employees, who object to its privatisation, have walked off the job for the past five days, leading to power cuts.

The power company says it has asked the courts to declare the strike illegal.

The popularity of the ruling Pasok party has dropped sharply according to latest opinion polls, with three-quarters of Greeks saying they oppose the government's austerity package.

The survey, carried out by centre-right newspaper Eleftheros Typos, showed Prime Minister George Papandreou's socialists trailing the New Democracy conservatives by 2.1 per cent.