Athens Metro employees will stage a 24-hour strike on Wednesday, while all public transport employees will hold a 5-hour work stoppage on Thursday from 11am to 4pm.

The Metro employees are striking in a show of support for some 285 contract colleagues whose contracts are expiring and are facing loss of their jobs, following a report by Public Administration Inspector Leandros Rakintzis that their contracts should not be renewed because they were hired illegally during the pre-election period.

The public transport work stoppage is in protest of the cutbacks in the employees' salaries and the changes planned to the social security system, as well as in pursuit of institutional demands.