ATHENS, Greece - May 5, 2010 - Flights to and from Greece were grounded, trains and ferries suspended their routes and public services were paralyzed Wednesday as angry Greek workers went on strike to protest harsh new spending cuts aimed at saving their country from bankruptcy.

Public and private sector unions concede that the cash-strapped government was forced to increase consumer taxes and slash spending, including cutting salaries and pensions for civil servants, to secure a vital 110 billion euros ($144 billion) three-year loan package from European partners and the International Monetary Fund.

But the unions say low-income Greeks will suffer disproportionately from the measures, which aim to save 30 billion euros ($40 billion) - the country's current budget deficit - through 2012.

"These people are losing their rights, they are losing their future," said Yiannis Panagopoulos, head of GSEE, one of the two largest union organizations. "The country cannot surrender without a fight."

Under the package, the other 15 countries will extend loans to Greece with interest rates of about 5% - higher than those they face themselves, but far lower than the prohibitive rates of about 10% that Greece faces at the moment on the international market.

Markets have been far from assured that the package will douse Europe's smoldering sovereign debt crisis, which many fear could spread to other financially troubled eurozone countries such as Portugal and Spain.

IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned that the crisis could spread to other countries despite the rescue package's efforts to contain it.

"Everyone must remain extremely vigilant," to this risk, Strauss-Kahn said in an interview published Wednesday in French newspaper Le Parisien.

He said Greek anger at the harsh spending cuts was understandable.