Greek strike grounds flights

ATHENS (Reuters) - Flights to and from Greece were grounded for four hours on Thursday after air-traffic controllers joined a nationwide public sector strike to protest against the government's response to the financial crisis.

The strike against a public wage freeze and pension reforms is the latest in a series of protests since the police shooting of a teenager in December sparked the country's worst riots in decades, fuelled by anger at high unemployment amid the economic slowdown.

Hundreds of demonstrators marched to parliament in the centre of Athens, holding banners reading: "Give us back what you've stolen from us" and "We can't let privatisations, pension reforms, and unemployment go through."

The statistics agency said Greece's unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent in February from 8 percent in the same month last year.

The 24-hour strike, which also shut down some ministries and public services, was called by public sector unions representing more than half a million workers.

"I am worried about the economic policy of the government, which is to shrink the revenues of employees and pensioners," public sector employee Costas Cordonios told Reuters as a few hundred protesters gathered at a rally in Athens.

CRISIS BITES

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis's government launched a 28-billion-euro (25 billion pound) bank support package in January but huge debts and fiscal problems have prevented the ruling conservatives from giving substantial relief to the poor.

The government has also pledged to take unpopular measures if necessary to bring down its deficit in line with EU rules.

Greece may face a recession in 2009 after years of sustained growth, as key sectors including tourism and construction are hit by the crisis.

ADEDY said workers would continue protests against government measures affecting lower incomes.

"Our problems are real," ADEDY general secretary Ilias Iliopoulos told Reuters. "We will continue our struggle with new protests and strikes."

The union said participation in the strike was high, with up to 70 percent of workers walking off the job in the Finance Ministry and 60 percent in hospitals. Officials at the Interior Ministry said initial figures showed a much lower participation.

Air traffic was suspended from around 1000-1400 local time (8 a.m.-12 p.m. British time), an airport spokesman said. Scores of flights were affected.

Olympic Airlines cancelled 55 return flights and rescheduled three, while Aegean Airlines cancelled 44 domestic flights and one return flight to Bucharest and rescheduled 37 others.

(Additional reporting Deborah Kyvrikosaios, Tatiana Fragou; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Michael Roddy)