Taxi drivers called a 24-hour strike for Thursday after the government refused to amend plans to open up their profession to more competition. The vehicles were on strike for nearly three weeks earlier this summer, causing havoc to parts of the country’s key tourism industry.

Under pressure from international rescue lenders, Greece’s Socialist government is stepping up spending cuts, with plans that include suspending public servants with reduced pay for up to a year.

Unions are planning major weekend demonstrations in the country’s second largest city, Thessaloniki, where Prime Minister George Papandreou will give an annual speech on the economy.

Some 6,000 police are expected to patrol the city during the demonstrations.

“The (government) has set a bulldozer in motion that is crushing labor rights, while refusing to lay a hand on tax cheats, evaders and businessmen who are responsible for this crisis,” said Yiannis Panagopoulos, leader of Greece’s largest labor union, the GSEE.

“Wage-earners, pensioners and the unemployed are again being asked to shoulder all of the burden,” he added.

Dentists and doctors are set to start the 48-hour strike Thursday, while garbage collectors in Athens plan to walk off the job next week. Primary school teachers have called a 24-hour strike on Sept. 22.