GREECE TO CUT PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS!!!

[carol ann parisi]

Greece To Cut Public Sector Workers

Greece has agreed to lay off 15,000 public-sector workers by the end of 2012, a government minister said Monday, as international pressure mounts on Athens to agree on austerity measures needed to secure major new debt agreements.

The cuts will come either by abolishing or downsizing a number of public-sector bodies, Administrative Reform Minister Dimitris Reppas said in a statement.

The announcement late Monday signaled a concession after meetings between Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and the country's political leaders over a reform program demanded by its creditors had been pushed back for another day. Party leaders remain at odds over broad wage cuts, one of the most politically sensitive demands issued by Greece's creditors.

The country is scrambling to negotiate last-minute details with officials from the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank--known as the troika--on the new loan program.