Athens , Greece ( CNN ) -- At least 10,000 marchers shut down the center of the Greek capital Wednesday to protest the latest waves of austerity measures announced by the government . The march accompanied a one-day strike in the public sector that shut down Athens International Airport , government ministries and schools . Hospitals operated on skeleton staffs , and some commuter rail services were closed . The marchers shouted slogans against the government and the threesome overseeing Greece 's $ 146 billion bailout : the European Central Bank , European Commission and International Monetary Fund . The protesters were unionized public sector workers , angry at the pay cuts they have suffered which , they say , amount to as much as 40 % of take-home pay . The best paid 100,000 public sector workers will lose another 20 % of their pay , the finance ministry recently announced . State workers are also worried about impending layoffs . Earlier this week the government announced it would retire 30,000 people in a bid to cut 300 million euros in operating costs next year . The 2012 budget , which was handed to parliament on Monday , contains a further $ 6.7 billion dollars ' worth of spending cuts . Public sector unions fear that many of those savings will come from layoffs . The latest cuts are a bid by the Greek government to qualify for the sixth installment of its bailout plan , worth some $ 10.6 billion . Without the money , the government can only pay salaries and pensions until mid-November . Greece 's finance minister on Sunday told the cabinet that the country would fall short of its deficit target this year by $ 2 billion . The reason , he said , is that the economy has shrunk by 5.5 % , far more than the 3.8 % originally forecast . `` We are forced to take decisions much faster than we would wish , '' Prime Minister George Papandreou told the cabinet . Greece 's deficit this year will be 18.69 billion euros ( $ 24.9 billion ) , or 8.5 % of GDP , as opposed to the originally forecast 17.1 billion euros ( $ 22.77 billion ) or 7.8 % . The government will aim to achieve a 2012 deficit of 14.65 billion euro ( $ 19.51 billion ) or 6.8 % of GDP , by combining 2011 and 2012 goals . Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos believes this will give Greece a primary surplus next year of 3.2 billion euros ( $ 4.2 billion ) . The government 's cashflow problems are disrupting education . The school year began on September 12 , but the education ministry was embarrassed to admit that it still had n't printed textbooks . Those are still being run off the presses and the ministry expects to have delivered all of them by the end of October . In the meantime , angry high school students staged sit-ins at their schools . On Tuesday , 540 of the country 's 11,000 high schools were shut down as a result . Wednesday 's marchers included many of those students .
The school year accompanies The school year strike that shuts down Athens International Airport , schools . Public workers say they 've lost 5.5 % of take-home pay . Greece 's finance minister says country will miss deficit target by 3.2 billion euros this year . The school year began without textbooks .