国际英语新闻：Greek media stage 24-hour strike over austerity measures

ATHENS, Nov. 30 (Xinhua)-- Greek journalist unions began a 24- hour nationwide strike on Tuesday over austerity measures introduced to address the economic crisis which has hit hard Greece the past few months.

No news are broadcast on public and private television and radio channels, the national news agency ANA-MPA and web sites until early Wednesday. Due to the strike no newspapers will be published until Thursday.

Unions of journalists, technicians and administrative personnel who take part in the protest denounce recent mass layoffs of employees in the sector which faces a severe crisis.

Protesters who marched to the Greek Labor Ministry on Tuesday denounced reforms on the labor market and pension system which affects wages and working conditions.

The socialist Greek government promotes reforms as a one way to secure the vitality of the Stability and Growth Program to exit the crisis in a three- year period, but unionists and citizens argue that they can not afford the cutbacks on salaries and tax hikes which have declined living standards.

Tuesday's strike follows the closure of the daily print edition of "To Vima" newspaper last week due to financial reasons. After a decade, the newspaper kept to the electronic edition, fueling fears of more mass dismissals of employees in the short-future.

This autumn "Apogeymatini" daily declared bankruptcy and last summer "Eleytheros Typos" daily closed down for a few months due to financial woes. As a result hundreds of journalists, technicians and personnel were made redundant, joining thousands of employees in all sectors of the economy.

The two umbrella labor unions of private and public sector employees will organize a 24-hour general strike on December 15.