Union calls for strike at Cosco-controlled dock in Piraeus
A rare strike has been called at the container terminal at the main port of Piraeus run by Chinese shipping giant Cosco, a union official said.
“A strike has been called until Monday by around 150 dock workers,” Giorgos Georgakopoulos, head of the federation of Greek port employees (OMYLE), told AFP.
The strike was called in demand of back pay and improved labor conditions, Georgakopoulos added, noting that Cosco staff were not allowed to unionize and that employment rules on the dock were unclear.
“Wage agreements are kept private, but we’ve been told of 35-euro salaries, far below what container crane operators should earn,” the union head said.
“It’s also unclear what the work schedule is, people are called in via cell phone messages,” he said.
In 2008, as Greece plunged into a deep debt crisis, Cosco signed a 35-year concession to expand the two main container terminals at Piraeus.
It plans to invest $230 million (170 million euros) in expansion works by 2020.
[AFP]
