Staff at two big Athens hospitals to walk off job on Tuesday

Workers at Evangelismos and Attikon hospitals in Athens will hold a work stoppage on Tuesday, from 1 p.m. until the end of the morning shift, and stage a rally at the Health Ministry. They say that if the contracts of 100 workers are allowed to expire by year-end, shortages will lead to department closures.

The POEDIN union of all Greek public hospital workers called on other facilities to join the action, saying that since the start of the crisis, 17,000 staff have departed the sector and not been replaced. It said an anticipated 3,000 retirements by the end of the year would put further strain on the system.