Suit filed against PPC strikers
A citizens? group on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Nikos Fotopoulos, the president of GENOP, the union representing Public Power Corporation (PPC) workers, for endangering public health, according to a report by Skai Television.
The group, which was organized on the social networking site Facebook, is claiming that ongoing strikes by PPC employees have interrupted the power supply to many of the country?s hospitals, putting the public at risk, said Lykourgos Liaropoulos, head of a Health Ministry committee.
Meanwhile, another report revealed that the price of electricity has skyrocketed since the beginning of GENOP?s strike on Monday, with private providers importing electricity from neighboring countries like Italy, Bulgaria and Turkey at up to more than twice the regular price.
GENOP is protesting the government?s plans to privatize the state-owned company with a series of rolling 48-hour strikes that are due to continue through Wednesday, as 16 PPC power plants have been shut down.
PPC workers also held a rally early on Wednesday morning outside the headquarters of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks in the northern Athenian suburb of Holargos.
The strikes are estimated to cost the cash-strapped state between 4 to 5 million euros on a daily basis.
A schedule of the outages is available on PPC?s website (www.dei.gr), while a hotline has also been set up to inform citizens of whether and when their areas will be affected. The number is 210.929.8100.
