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BBC World Service

For some Greeks, there’s work but no pay

John Humphrys Oct 15, 2013
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BBC World Service

For some Greeks, there’s work but no pay

John Humphrys Oct 15, 2013
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Sometimes, you just can’t a break. And neither, it seems, can Greece.

The BBC’s John Humphrys reports from Athens on how Greeks are coping with the country’s ongoing financial crisis.  This week, the troika of lenders who have helped Greece through that crisis for the past three years say the government now needs to find a further$2.5 billion dollars in spending cuts next year. Ouch!  Greece is already reeling from punitive austerity measures that have slashed pensions and wages and sent the unemployment rate up to 27 percent.

Humphrys meets a struggling young family with two children. The husband lost his job in an orchestra. The wife although still working, is not being paid.

A similar predicament faces journalists at Greece’s state broadcasting corporation where journalists continue to turn up for work despite being fired and getting no wages.

Former government minister Constantine Papadopoulos hopes things will turn around soon but the painful drama of the past three years shows no sign of catharsis. 

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