Greek civil servants call strikes over layoffs

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek civil servants will walk off the job for three days this month to protest planned layoffs under the debt-mired country's bailout commitments.

The umbrella ADEDY union on Friday called strikes for March 12, when Parliament is expected to vote on a law closing state agencies and firing or suspending personnel, and March 19-20, when a batch of civil servants is due to be fired.

The conservative-led government has pledged to fire more than 11,000 civil servants this year.

Greece has been kept afloat for nearly four years by international bailouts. In return, it slashed spending and incomes while repeatedly raising taxes and retirement ages.

An ALCO poll of 1,000 Greeks published Friday found that 59 percent think they will be unable to pay their taxes this year.