Unions oppose mental health reform measures

The union representing public hospital workers, POEDIN, has called a 24-hour strike on Monday and is organizing a protest rally at 11 a.m. on downtown Athens' Syntagma Square. 

The action coincides with a vote in Parliament on a controversial bill reforming mental health services. Critics of the plan say it will render mental health services unfunctional by transferring jurisdiction for their operation from public hospitals to regional authority health departments. 

Psychiatric hospitals will also lose their independence by being brought under the oversight of regional health departments, critics add. The new legislation will also affect drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs. 

POEDIN's strike is being backed by the public servants' umbrella union, ADEDY.