Greek employees at Piraeus and Thessaloniki ports will continue strike action, the president of the Port Employees of Greece Federation Giorgos Georgakopoulos said on Thursday, after his meeting with Shipping and Island Policy Minister Thodoris Dritsas and other government ministers involved.
“The verbal assurances of the government are not sufficient – we have no path other than to continue our action,” he said, while noting that the new environment created at the ports “harboured serious dangers for the workforce.”
The employees will make decisions on how to further escalate their action on Thursday, while they will carry out a protest rally outside the Greek stock market on Friday, during a Piraeus Port Organisation shareholders’ meeting to approve the new concession contract for the port, he said.
In a message to port employees as he arrived at the Posidonia 2016 shipping exhibition, Dritsas said he had just come from a meeting with the port workers, attended by the other ministers involved.
“We presented the government proposals in detail. They are proposals that protect stable and secure labour relations in the ports and, of course, in Piraeus and Thessaloniki. There are a series of proposals and measures that we have already taken and others that we will take in order to avert any risk of disrupting labour relations,” he said.
The minister also noted that the government’s proposal “was a very good opportunity” that should not be lost.
In the meantime, Greece’s importers, exporters but also cruise operators are up in arms over the continued strike, ahead of the expected arrival of eight cruise ships that will let off and take on 6,600 passengers in Piraeus on Saturday, as well as another 2,000 travellers expected to disembark and visit Attica. The head of the cruise company association has warned that many operators are now considering cancelling planned stops at Piraeus in favour of other ports, including those in neighbouring countries.
Source: ANA-MPA
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