BRUSSELS, June 2 (Reuters) - European trade unions announced plans on Wednesday to hold a "European Day of Action" on Sept. 29, including a rally in Brussels, to protest against spending cuts across the region.
The rally is timed to coincide with a meeting of European Union finance ministers, and unions may also organise strikes or protests in other countries, the European Trade Union Confederation said after a meeting of its executive committee.
"As European governments move collectively to slash public expenditure, including jobs, pay and pensions, while the European economy is fragile and vulnerable to renewed recession, the ETUC is to mobilise a collective trade union response," it said in a statement.
The organisers expect at least 100,000 people from the 27 EU countries to take part in the Brussels rally on Sept. 29, an ETUC official said, adding that unions would decide locally what other action could be taken.
"This can include protest stoppages, demonstrations, meetings with government finance ministers," said the ETUC, which represents 82 trade union organisations in 36 countries.
So far, austerity protests in Europe have remained limited and it was unclear what level of support a bloc-wide rally would draw, especially as it is not scheduled to take place for another four months.
The September date has been chosen because it takes time to organise such a big event with representations from so many countries, the official said.
Governments are slashing spending in countries in the 16-state euro zone and the wider EU because a Greek debt crisis threatens to affect other countries and has undermined investor confidence in the euro currency.
Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy have announced austerity measures to placate nervous financial markets worried by Europe’s debt problems, causing fears of labour unrest and strikes. [ID:nLDE64Q1OF]
Unions say austerity may stifle the nascent economic recovery from the worst economic crisis in decades and complain that the poor and public sector workers are being made to pay the cost of the mistakes of the rich.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will meet a union delegation on Friday to discuss the social impact of the economic crisis.
