Island staff walk off jobs
Municipal workers on the Ionian island of Zakynthos yesterday launched an open-ended walkout to demand three months in outstanding wages and benefits they claim to have been denied by cash-strapped authorities. Handing over the keys to the regional office for the Ionian islands in a symbolic gesture, the municipal employees said they were abandoning their jobs as the authority’s failure to pay them their salaries had led them into «a financial deadlock» and had rendered them incapable of supporting their families. The protesters accused their superiors of acting in a provocative manner, «whiling away their times in chic cafes while hundreds of municipal employees struggle to make ends meet.» The workers called on Interior Minister Yiannis Ragousis to intervene in order to ensure that they receive their unpaid wages. They also asked the minister to carry out an audit of the municipality’s finances for the last five years and punish any officials found to have been involved in mismanagement.
