Greek ports plagued by strikes

Reuters news agency reports that port workers have been on 48-hour rolling strikes since last week and have said they will not return to work unless their fears about layoffs are addressed.

“Everything, taxes, bills, the living cost, is going up. Daily food has become more expensive. And myself, I don’t know if I have job tomorrow,” said port worker Antonis Peristerakis.

“I need security. I want to have food for my children. I don’t want to look for a job at the age of 49,” he added.

Last month Greece sealed the sale of a 67% stake in Piraeus Port to shipping giant China Cosco for €368.5 and the port’s shareholders met on Tuesday to approve the 36-year concession between Cosco and the government. Some 200 port workers gathered outside a hotel building hosting the meeting to protest the sale.

The workers want Cosco to safeguard jobs for a minimum number of people, along with their current labour contracts, as part of the concession agreement. Piraeus port employs 1,100 people.

The strike is mainly disrupting cargo operations but Greece’s cruise ship-owners union has said that the walkout could also affect cruise ships docking in Piraeus.

Under the privatisation scheme, Athens is also selling a 67% stake in Thessaloniki Port, with Denmark’s container terminal operator APM Terminals, Phillipines-based International Container Terminal Services ICTS and Dubai-based P&O Steam Navigation Company (DP World) said to be strongly interested according to the head of the privatisation agency.