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Greece starts firing civil servants for first time in a century
Christian Science monitor ^ | April 26, 2013 | Nikolia Apostolou

Posted on 04/27/2013 4:18:29 PM PDT by JerseyanExile

The Greek government began its first mass-firing of public-sector workers in more than 100 years this week, part of an effort to lay off 180,000 by 2015 under Europe-imposed austerity.

Pushed by its European creditors amid its crippling economic crisis, Greece began this week to do something it hasn't done in more than 100 years: fire public-sector workers en masse.

Following weeks of tough negotiations with its lenders – the "troika" of the International Monetary Fund, the European Union, and the European Central Bank – the Greek government started laying off public-sector workers in an effort to implement the austerity that the troika has demanded. The first two civil servants were let go on Wednesday under a new law that speeds up the process – one, a policeman, for stealing debit cards, and the other for 110 days of unexcused absence.

The mass layoffs were announced last week in a televised address by the Greek prime minister himself, Antonis Samaras. Despite the massive unemployment in Greece, the goal of the government has become the laying off of 180,000 civil servants by 2015. “This is not a human sacrifice," said Prime Minister Samaras. “It’s an upgrading of the public sector and it’s one demand of Greek society.”

(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 33percent; austerity; bankrupt; civilservants; govtemployees; greece; greececivilservants; greekgovernment; publicemployees; socialism
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1 posted on 04/27/2013 4:18:29 PM PDT by JerseyanExile
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To: JerseyanExile

How could such a small country have so many civil servants? There will still be more left working after firing 180,000.


2 posted on 04/27/2013 4:21:44 PM PDT by Eleutheria5 (End the occupation. Annex today.)
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To: JerseyanExile
Government bureaucrats thrown out of work - a wonderful sight anywhere it happens.

I may just take my next vacation in Athens so's I can watch.

3 posted on 04/27/2013 4:22:37 PM PDT by skeeter
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To: skeeter

Ya better hurry before they burn it down!


4 posted on 04/27/2013 4:23:29 PM PDT by FES0844
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To: JerseyanExile

if only we truly felt their pain.. sadly, for them and us, it may all be too late anyway to avoid the abyss of a global blobocracy run amuck


5 posted on 04/27/2013 4:25:31 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: FES0844
Ya better hurry before they burn it down!

People have been trying to burn it down for centuries.

Ironically, it may be union thugs and government employees who ultimately get the job done on the "Cradle of Democracy".

6 posted on 04/27/2013 4:29:07 PM PDT by elkfersupper ( Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: skeeter

I may just take my next vacation in Athens so’s I can watch.
+++++++++++++++
LOL. Well you can expect long flight delays at the Athens airport.


7 posted on 04/27/2013 4:30:24 PM PDT by InterceptPoint (a)
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To: elkfersupper

People have repeatedly burned it down, and it still emerges from the ashes, maybe because marble doesn’t burn. Civil servants, however, do eventually devour their host.


8 posted on 04/27/2013 4:33:14 PM PDT by Eleutheria5 (End the occupation. Annex today.)
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To: Eleutheria5
People have repeatedly burned it down, and it still emerges from the ashes, maybe because marble doesn’t burn. Civil servants, however, do eventually devour their host.

We have IED's now.

9 posted on 04/27/2013 4:59:48 PM PDT by elkfersupper ( Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: JerseyanExile

I’m not sure which is more baffling; the fact that they have never once laid off a civil servant or the fact that 110 days of unexcused absence hadn’t let to termination before this.


10 posted on 04/27/2013 5:03:37 PM PDT by 0.E.O
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To: 0.E.O
I’m not sure which is more baffling; the fact that they have never once laid off a civil servant or the fact that 110 days of unexcused absence hadn’t let to termination before this.

And our government is adding civil servants -and punishing businesses that create economic growth. The end result is staring them in the face.
11 posted on 04/27/2013 5:36:37 PM PDT by yorkiemom
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To: 0.E.O
What about the cop arrested for stealing debit cards?

I'd pretty much think that would be a "fireable offense" even for a public sector job.

12 posted on 04/27/2013 5:58:18 PM PDT by boop ("You don't look so bad, here's another")
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To: InterceptPoint

And at the American airport when leaving.


13 posted on 04/27/2013 6:07:43 PM PDT by tiki
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To: JerseyanExile
"It’s an upgrading of the public sector and it’s one demand of Greek society."

Oh, yeah, now that's a righteous upgrade--the kind that American society will demand in the near future. It's going to happen. There's no other way out. This is a default process. Better sooner than later.

By now, most of you should know why the socialists have been even more hysterical than usual in their desperate efforts to panic the private sector with threats against the rights of our nation. There's not enough money to keep their hordes of debt-dependent constituents acting up in offices and classrooms, and making money worthless (inflation) won't work for them, either. Where there's no value, there's no value. And bond investors cannot prop them up for long (haircuts coming).


14 posted on 04/27/2013 6:15:07 PM PDT by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of rotten politics smelled around the planet.)
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To: skeeter

LOL.

Don’t interrupt your Athens vacation because I don’t think that Washington D.C. will shed their dead weight anytime soon.

The US government has become dead weight.


15 posted on 04/27/2013 6:22:03 PM PDT by 353FMG ( I do not indicate whether I am serious or sarcastic -- I respect FReepers too much.)
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To: FES0844
"Ya better hurry before they burn it down!"

Very true. The attacking "zombies" won't be those sitting around and immobile on food subsistence from the government. They'll be the folks perceiving themselves as being more entitled recipients of larger government incomes--those currently with prestige, authority and greater means for making trouble (transportation, fuel, weapons, fatter unemployment checks, etc.) and enough vanity to get madder and cause more damage.


16 posted on 04/27/2013 6:23:00 PM PDT by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of rotten politics smelled around the planet.)
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To: familyop
Very true. The attacking "zombies" won't be those sitting around and immobile on food subsistence from the government. They'll be the folks perceiving themselves as being more entitled recipients of larger government incomes--those currently with prestige, authority and greater means for making trouble (transportation, fuel, weapons, fatter unemployment checks, etc.) and enough vanity to get madder and cause more damage.

All the more reason for the 2nd amendment.

17 posted on 04/27/2013 6:32:21 PM PDT by digger48
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To: JerseyanExile

What a novel concept. Maybe WA DC should consider...


18 posted on 04/27/2013 6:52:13 PM PDT by vox_freedom (America is being tested as never before in its history. May God help us.)
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To: JerseyanExile

Nice to see a little good news coming out of Greece


19 posted on 04/27/2013 7:42:47 PM PDT by Colorado Doug (Now I know how the Indians felt to be sold out for a few beads and trinkets)
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To: Eleutheria5

those layoffs amd firings are still 180,000 family and individual tragedies


20 posted on 04/27/2013 8:55:54 PM PDT by silverleaf (Age Takes a Toll: Please Have Exact Change)
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