Like many single mothers, Yianoula Bekiari, 38, scrounged for baby sitters and leaned on her parents to help raise her two young children while working as an eye doctor. Left with only the weekend to catch up on grocery shopping, cleaning and playing with her son and daughter, Yiannoula's world stands to be turned upside down if she is forced to work a six day week - as reportedly demanded by Greece's international creditors.
She says an extended work week would destroy the family unit in Greece and would not be accepted by anyone. "The unions have fought so hard to maintain a 5-day, 40-hour working week - we will be the only European country to work so much - this will take us back to the Dark Ages."
Yianoula's comments follow a report in Greece's reputable To Vima newspaper, which published what it said was a letter from the country's creditors - the so-called troika of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - urging the government to introduce drastic labour market reforms, including working a six day week for all sectors.
The European Commission in Brussels on Wednesday declined to comment on the report, which also suggests that the minimum wage and private sector salaries be reduced as means of jump-starting the economy.
But not all economists believe that an extended working week would help the economy. "On the one hand it would help productivity, but on the other it would drastically increase the country's wage bill in both the private and public sector - the government is trying to reduce the wage bill because the budget cannot stand this," Yannis Monogios, an economist at the Center of Planning and Economic Research (KEPE), a Greek think tank, told dpa.
Meanwhile, opposition to the proposed measures was already escalating on the streets of central Athens. "They have slashed our salary by 50 per cent and are threatening even more cuts - now they are demanding that we work even more days for less money? No one in their right mind will stand for it!" said a police officer, who asked not to be named.
At a nearby rally outside the offices of the Finance Ministry, a group of hospital doctors said they were already being pushed to the limits. "Our salaries have been cut to 1,000 euros (1,260 dollars) per month and we have not been paid money owed for overtime and emergency shifts for months - there is no way that we will agree to work a 6-day week!" said 31-year-old Lida Athanasiadis, a mother of two.
Officials from the troika are now in Athens to make sure the government goes ahead with the budget cuts it has promised in return for the next tranche of emergency aid. Greece's solvency, helped by a 130-billion-euro bailout, depends on its ability to drastically reduce its debt load. But according to a report by KEPE released on Wednesday, the country's debt is unsustainable and cannot be reduced to its target of 120 per cent of gross domestic product by 2020 without changes to the country's austerity programme.
According to KEPE, necessary actions include "an extension of the programme, lowering the interest on debt and speeding up privatisations." The government has so far not issued any details on its latest austerity package, which is expected to focus largely on further pension and public sector pay cuts.
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