Greek port workers plan walkout to protest privatization
Port workers will walk off the job on Wednesday for 48 hours to protest against the sale of the country’s two biggest ports, which Athens has promised to international lenders in exchange for much-needed bailout loans.
Privatizations, a key term of Greek bailouts since 2010, have generated only a fraction of an initial 50-billion-euro target and have met strong union resistance.
Port workers, who fear job cuts, have staged repeated strikes.
“Selling the ports is a mistake, it won’t help bring growth,” Giorgos Gogos, general secretary of the Piraeus port dock workers’ union, told Reuters.
Port workers’ unions will decide on a new 48-hour walkout after the end of the strike, Gogos said.
Rolling strikes can lead to container pileups and disrupt cargo operations.
[Reuters]
