ATHENS : Angry Union Protests

Greece may be plagued by a series of wildcat strikes as union protests grow against government austerity measures.

With a sluggish economy, a painful public debt of $56 billion and inflation of around 18% for 1991, Greece is falling further behind its prosperous partners in the European Community. And the Conservative government of Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis, which holds a slim two-seat majority in Parliament, has embarked on a three-year economic stabilization program.

One of its provisions, which would hold wage increases to around one-half of the inflation rate, angers unions already anxious at the prospect of falling employment as money-losing government enterprises are privatized or closed for want of private buyers. There is also a threatened general strike next Tuesday by unions representing 2 million public and private sector workers.