January 18, 1953
NATIONAL-ATHENS MERGER: The former coordination minister Mr Georgios Kartalis, in a long statement, referred to the merger of the National Bank and Bank of Athens, criticizing the government’s decision as an attempt to set up a credit monopoly, since the new combined bank will have 80 percent of the country’s trade and industry credit. NATIONAL BANK STRIKE: National Bank staff are continuing their strike, while the bank’s management is trying to operate solely with Bank of Athens staff. FOTIS MAKRIS FOR STRIKERS: The secretary-general of the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), Mr Fotis Makris, yesterday appealed to the Bank of Athens staff union to instruct its members to abandon the posts assigned to them at various National Bank services. Mr Makris condemns the completely illegal and immoral use by National’s Managing Director Mr Iliaskos of Bank of Athens staff to replace National Bank staff who are on strike, since the merger of the two banks has not taken place either practically or formally. BOYIATI: At 10.45 a.m. yesterday, the foundation stone was laid for a building in Boyiati to house the equipment for the National Radio Foundation’s 150-kilowatt transmitter. PARTISAN-PAOK: Thessaloniki, 17 – The Yugoslav championship team Partisan beat PAOK 7-1 before a crowd of about 10,000 people.
