Greece approves sweeping public sector cuts Under the cuts, thousands of civil servants including teachers and municipal police will have eight months to find new posts elsewhere or accept those offered to them. Otherwise, they would lose their jobs. Overall, Greece must redeploy 25,000 civil servants - mainly police officers and teachers - and fire another 4,000 by the end of the year. The main opposition Syriza leftists have called the measure "human sacrifice" and said the country's creditors were motivated by "hatred" for demanding it. Mr Samaras defended the unpopular measure, promising "better days" for Greeks as he announced a 10-per cent drop in restaurant sales tax to boost the tourist season. "Better days will come for our people," he said in a televised address hours before the vote. We will not let up. We will climb uphill and reach the end, which is not far. The reforms are tied to the country's next tranche of EU-IMF loans.