Greece 's militant union of power sector workers, Genop, said Thursday it will proceed with rolling 48-hour strikes from March 24, but also said it was open to talks with the Greek government.

"Genop has decided to step up its struggle with rolling 48-hour strikes and a protest from March 24," the union said in a statement.

"On Friday the president of the union is due to meet with the ministers of finance and labor. With a sense of responsibility we offer a last chance at dialogue. The government is exclusively responsible for whatever follows from next Wednesday onwards."

The statement follows a two-day strike by the union that ended Wednesday night and which led to the closure of seven power plants around Greece .

The closure of the plants led to several national, albeit limited, power outages as Greek regulators shut down parts of the grid to cope with the shortage in production.

The union is protesting against recent austerity measures by the Greek government, which is struggling to narrow the budget deficit this year to 8.7% of gross domestic product from an estimated 12.7% last year.

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