ATHENS — Unions and employers in Greece are to resume talks Thursday as the country scrambles to push through more cost-cutting reforms and conclude massive debt deals that would prevent an imminent default.

The talks are due to start, with debt inspectors from the European Union and International Monetary Fund pressing Greece to slash labour costs in the private sector. The debt inspectors are also due to resume high-level meetings with the government.

Greece is hoping to clinch an agreement for a second bailout worth C130 billion (US$172 billion) in the coming days with its partners in the 17-nation eurozone and the IMF, and a related deal with private creditors that will see C100 billion wiped off the national debt.

Without those agreements, Greece faces bankruptcy next month as it is unable to cover a C14.5 billion bond repayment due on March 20.

"This is a very difficult negotiation and of course there are differences of opinion, so we will see where that leads," government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis told private Mega television.

"As a country, we have reached the brink of official bankruptcy. We have been borrowing for so many years and now we have our backs to the wall, so we have difficult decisions to make."

Also Thursday, workers from the state-run national health service gathered in protest outside the Health Ministry to protest spending cuts in health care, including a new round of wage reductions which took effect on Feb. 1.

One group of protesters carried an empty coffin outside the central Athens building.