MADRID (AP) — Spain's biggest labor union yesterday called a civil servants strike next month to protest government plans to cut salaries as part of a plan to reduce the deficit.

The General Workers Union said the stoppage would be staged on June 2.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced a five percent wage cut for civil servants as part of a deficit-reduction plan to ease worries the country will slide into a debt crisis like that of Greece.

The strike call came as Zapatero met with the leaders of UGT and another big union, known as CCOO, yesterday to explain the measures but failed to win them over.

"We reiterated our absolute opposition to the content of the plan," CCOO secretary General Ignacio Fernandez Toxo told reporters after the meeting.

Spain has around 2.7 million civil servants.

UGT's public service sector said the stoppage would be preceded by a series of protests beginning May 20.

CCOO and another union with strong representation in the public sector have not said whether they urge their members to back the strike call.