Athens - Services began shutting down across Greece on Tuesday ahead of a 24-hour general strike called by unions to protest a pension reform bill they say will curb benefits. Flights will be grounded, ferries docked at ports and public services will lock their doors on Wednesday after Greece's two largest unions called a nationwide strike in opposition to the government's planned pension reforms.
From the northern port city of Thessaloniki to the western port of Patras and the Greek capital Athens, workers have pledged to bring the country to a standstill.
Public and private sector workers have launched a wave of strikes to protest proposed pension reforms, which look to increase retirement ages while cutting benefits to millions of future retirees.
They are also protesting government efforts to merge dozens of pension funds into five to eight main funds.
A draft bill on the changes was presented to lawmakers last week amid a wave of protest action that has brought different parts of the country to a halt.
Public transport workers at the Athens Metro and railway walked off the job on Tuesday, causing traffic to be backed up for miles during rush hour.
On Wednesday, strikes are expected to leave the country's other major cities without buses, trains and trolleys.
Hospitals will only treat emergency patients, while banks, tax offices, schools, courts and all other government services will also be closed for the day.
Meanwhile, air traffic controllers said no aeroplanes would take off or land at Athens' international airport as well at any other airport on mainland Greece and on the Greek islands.
Ferries and boats would remain docked at ports across the country, paralysing transport to and from hundreds of Greek islands as port authorities join the strike.
Bank employees have also taken part in the strike by launching walkouts from late last week, while engineers and lawyers vowed to continue their strike action.
Archaeologists operating the country's main tourist attraction, the Acropolis, and other ancient sites across the city said they would probably shut them down for the day.
The powerful journalists' union will also launch a 24-hour nationwide strike resulting in a news blackout. The journalists' strike will disrupt newspaper production, public television news broadcasts and internet sites.
Rolling strikes have also caused power shortages throughout the country as workers at the state power utility have walked off the job for more than 10 days.
Athens and the surrounding region, home to nearly 5 million people, has been under mounds of rubbish as municipal workers refused to continue their work.
Riot police have been guarding Athens main landfill to stop striking municipal workers from blocking the site.
The country's two largest unions, GSEE and public sector union ADEDY, which jointly represent more than 2.5 million workers, will also hold a rally in central Athens at noon Wednesday.
The conservative government, under the leadership of Costas Karamanlis, is under pressure to press forward with reforms, mainly involving the country's ailing pension system which runs the risk of going bankrupt in 20 years because of an ageing population and low birth rate.
