Tens of thousands of teachers, doctors, police officers and other public workers went on strike yesterday in Slovenia over proposed pay cuts under austerity measures to rein in the euro zone member’s budget deficit.
The strike, which involves some 80,000 public sector workers and has closed most schools and kindergartens across the country, is the largest in Slovenia since it declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.
The centre-right government of prime minister Janez Jansa, which took power in February, has warned the country that its economy is “on the edge” and that the budget deficit must be cut from 6.4 per cent in 2011 to 3.5 per cent this year.
Debt soared to 47.6 per cent of GDP in 2011. – (Reuters)