General strike in Greece on February 4 over pension reform: Trade unions

Athens: Greek unions on Friday announced a general strike against a planned overhaul of the country's ailing pensions system.

"A 24-hour strike on February 4 has been decided," the main private-sector union GSEE said.

"The social security bill destroys pensioners, wage earners and mainly the future of the new generation," the union said.

Greece is under pressure from its international creditors to reduce spending on pensions which is the highest in the European Union.

Greece's leftist government has announced plans to lower the maximum pension to 2,300 euros ($2,500) from 2,700 euros currently, and introduce a new minimum guaranteed basic pension of 384 euros. It also wants to increase social security contributions by both employers and staff.

Greece must save 1.8 billion euros from state spending on pensions under a three-year bailout signed with the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund in July.

According to the labour ministry, Greece spends 17.5 percent of output on pensions compared to a European average of around 11.5 percent.

Opposition to continued austerity had already sparked general strikes in November and December.