Athens - Tens of thousands of Greeks went on strike on Wednesday, grounding flights and bringing traffic to a halt in the capital, in a protest against the conservative government's privatisation plans and the rising cost of living.

Greece's largest union, the GSEE private sector federation, called the 24-hour stoppage after Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis unveiled plans to sell loss-making Olympic Airlines last month while public discontent mounted over the impact of the global economic slowdown.

"Overthrow the Karamanlis government!" chanted some 3,000 protestors who marched past the Greek parliament, where the ruling New Democracy party holds a fragile four-seat majority.

"Today was only the beginning, tomorrow all workers will be on the streets," said Yannis Panagopoulos, the head of GSEE, which convened a nationwide general strike for Oct. 21.

"We demand they change their policies! They have to protect public property, stop destroying the social security system and respect our rights," said Panagopoulos, whose union represents around 2 million people, or 40 percent of Greece's workforce.
Union leaders have pledged to roll back government economic reforms and halt the sale of Olympic despite assurances that all its workers would be compensated or re-employed.

GSEE said 100,000 workers walked off the job on Wednesday, shutting down state TV for hours and cutting rail services and hospitals to emergency staff. The SEV business chamber could not provide participation figures for the strike.
Olympic was forced to cancel about 100 flights including international routes to London, Paris and Rome. Public transport in Athens was halted during the morning rush-hour period, clogging main roads and causing kilometres-long traffic jams on the capital's main arteries.

In an effort to defuse public anger, Karamanlis had announced on the eve of the strike a raft of measures to shield consumers from profiteering, including a government agency to moderate price rises by stores and businesses.

But unionists said the prospect of widespread job losses and government reforms to Greece's wage and social security benefits threatened to drag more people into poverty. One in five Greeks live below the poverty line, earning less than 5,000 euros a year, according to government figures.

"We are being paid a pittance and on top of that they want to cut our salaries, to increase working years. Things can only get worse," said Greek Post worker, Filippos Liarostathis, 49.

In a boost to the government, Karamanlis took back an expelled member of his New Democracy party late on Tuesday, returning it to 152 seats in the 300 member parliament.

Karamanlis expelled Stavros Dailakis last month when the rebel called for the dismissal of a minister, despite the prime minister's warning he would not tolerate dissent.