Greek Tax Collectors, Others Strike Over Government Reforms

``Thousands of Greek tax collectors and customs officials walked off the job Monday in the first day of a two-day strike over plans to cut civil service salaries, the latest in a string of protests over Greek government reforms. They were joined by taxi owners, who have called their own two-day walk over plans to liberalize taxi services, and garbage collectors in the capital, Athens, who are staging a separate 48-hour strike over local government cutbacks. "The participation rate in the strike is over 90%," said Yiannis Grivas, head of the tax collectors' union, or POE-DOY. "The workers are striking to protest the looting of their income."''