AN international protest made its way to Townsville shores yesterday after a ship owned by the parent company involved in the dispute docked in the city.

International Transport Workers' Federation members joined Townsville Maritime Union of Australia members to show their support for a group of Washington State waterfront workers known as the Longview Dockers.

The delegation gathered at the Port of Townsville in front of the vessel New Accord, which is owned by multinational shipping company STX Pan Ocean.

The protest comes after a group of workers were detained by police while protesting in Longview, Washington, on September 9.

Tempers flared after the group's employer attempted to replace workers with a subcontracted workforce willing to do their jobs for less pay.

Federation co-ordinator Dean Summers said the action showed the Washington State workers had a global support base.

``We will not stand idly by and ignore bullying of trade unionists,'' he said.

``No one should face threats and intimidation for standing up for basic rights.

``Today we're gathering in Townsville to show the Longview Dockers that they have the support and solidarity of their brothers and sisters around the world.

``We will defend jobs, communities and families wherever and whenever it is necessary.''

The action is set to run in conjunction with protests in Asia, Europe and the United States as well as ports across Australia.

Mr Summers said the international action was about standing up for workers across the globe.

``Townsville maritime workers are members of the Maritime Union of Australia which has a close affiliation with the International Transport Workers' Federation,'' he said.

``This campaign is about telling workers on STX Pan Ocean vessels around the world that this isn't the way to do business.''

The move follows a nationwide strike on Tuesday where more than 4000 Qantas ground staff walked off the job as part of a nationwide dispute over work conditions.

The four-hour stoppage came after last-minute talks between the Transport Workers Union and Qantas at Fair Work Australia failed.

New Greece austerity move prompts strikes and protests

Greece is being hit by a 24-hour public transport strike in the latest protest against government austerity measures.

The government has toughened its measures, cutting pensions further and suspending more civil servant posts.

It says this must be done to receive a vital 8bn-euro (£6.9bn) tranche of aid.

The EU said it would not allow either an uncontrolled default of Greek debt or the country to leave the eurozone, the bloc's economic commissioner said.

"An uncontrolled default or exit of Greece from the eurozone would cause enormous economic and social damage, not only to Greece but to the European Union as a whole, and have serious spillovers to the world economy," Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said.

"We will not let this happen," he added.

However, Mr Rehn, speaking in Washington, did not explicitly rule out the possibility of Greece defaulting.

The Greek government says its tougher measures are an attempt to secure the continued backing of international creditors and prevent such a default on debt payments.

The latest tranche of aid is the most recent segment of a 110bn euro ($150bn) package of loans established by eurozone countries and the IMF to help Greece pay its huge debts.

Train, bus and taxi services have been crippled and air traffic controllers will stop work for several hours. There will also be a mass protest of public sector workers later in Athens.

The people of Athens were struggling through car-clogged streets on Thursday as most public transport systems shut down.

One traffic police official told Reuters: "The situation is dramatic, all major streets are jammed."

Flights will be delayed or cancelled by a three-to-four hour walk-out by air traffic controllers in the afternoon.

Some teachers and civil servants also stopped work.

In addition to Thursday's strike, the main private sector union, the GSEE, has called for more industrial action next month to protest against the austerity measures.

Union president Yannis Panagopoulos said: "This is a policy we do not tolerate, we do not want. We are in continuous, total, permanent opposition to it."

Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos warned: "The situation is extremely critical and I could say dangerous. There is great nervousness in the eurozone, the European banking system and the world economy."

The tougher measures announced on Wednesday affected pensions, tax thresholds and civil servant posts.

Monthly pensions above a 1,200 euro ($1,600) threshold will be cut by 20% and those retiring below the age of 55 will see a 40% cut in pensions above a 1,000 euro threshold.

The number of civil servants suspended on partial pay will rise by 50% to 30,000 by the end of the year.

And the threshold at which income tax becomes payable on annual salaries will drop from 8,000 to 5,000 euros.

Several newspapers on Thursday condemned the measures. The pro-government Ta Nea said pensioners and civil servants had been put on a "sacrificial altar".

The government has also come in for criticism from the business sector.

Constantinos Michalos, head of the Athens chamber of commerce and industry, told state TV: "There is no compass, this government doesn't know where it's going."

He later told the BBC: "People are going to revolt for sure - how can you milk a cow when it hasn't been fed?"

Many workers and pensioners are expected to gather for a mass protest in Athens in the afternoon.

Retiree Efthymios Gardikiotis told Associated Press: "I'm 73 years old and I will start a war. The same way [the government] wants a war."

Fellow Athenian Ioassif Roussanidis said: "I believe these [new] measures they are taking are probably the worst yet. Other countries have also gone through these crises but they handled them differently."

However, not all saw the point in strikes.

One civil servant at the ministry of finance, Georgia Haloulou, told the BBC they would do more harm in the long run.

She said: "Strikes will get us nowhere. The government, any government, has to do the cutbacks because otherwise we won't be able to get the loan; if we don't get the loan, nobody is going to be paid."

The BBC's Mark Lowen in Athens says the government is determined to see off the protests as it must push the austerity measures through to qualify for the next instalment of financial support.

He says the European Central Bank, European Commission and International Monetary Fund have been disappointed at the slow pace of reform and will be back in Athens over the next few days to determine whether Greece will qualify for the aid. Without it, our correspondent says, the country will effectively go bankrupt.

The president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, insisted a Greek default would be avoided, because the alternative was just too dangerous.

After a six-hour cabinet meeting on Wednesday, government spokesman Elias Mossialos said of the latest measures: "This sends a message to our partners and to the markets that Greece both wishes and is able to fulfil its commitments and remain at the core of the eurozone and the EU."