Greek doctors to walk out Wednesday

Doctors at state hospitals are to walk off the job from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday to protest draft legislation foreseeing an overhaul of their working hours.

Referring to the government as “thieves,” the Federation of Greek Hospital Doctors (OENGE) said the new regulations “demolish any sense of normality in doctors’ working hours.”

Doctors have staged similar walkouts in recent weeks to protest a new wage structure imposed by the government as part of the country’s bailout commitments which, they say, has reduced their salaries further.

The latest legislation, according to the union, “incorporates all the reactionary European directives which make working hours more flexible and abolish the established daily and weekly working schedule of doctors.”