PPC union protest leads to power cuts
Unionists at the Public Power Corporation (PPC) have said there will be power cuts in Greece between noon and 3 p.m. and between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Monday due to a protest against plans to privatize the company.
PPC has asked consumers to limit their use of electricity as much as possible during those hours to ensure that there are as few outages as possible.
The power cuts will affect several areas in Attica and the suburbs of Athens but not the city center. There will also be blackouts in Crete and Rhodes.
On Monday morning, unionists blocked the entrance to the Kozani-Ptolemaidi power plants and said that 10 units had been taken off the national grid.
The powerful union representing PPC workers, GENOP, said it would hold rolling 48-hour strikes from Monday morning to protest sell-off plans.
Unionists have called the action two weeks before the government is to submit legislation in Parliament paving the way for the state to reduce its holdings in PPC from 51 percent to 34 percent.
The provision is part of the government?s controversial midterm fiscal program which also foresees new tax increases and spending cuts in the public sector.
