EMEA News
Greek Dock Workers Walk Out, Protest Over Piraeus and Thessaloniki Port Privatisation
Greek dock workers Thursday walked off the job to protest the seemingly inevitable privitisation of two of the countries' ports, Piraeus and Thessaloniki, Euronews reports.
Under a European Union (EU) condition to receive a further €86 billion ($95.51 billion) in bailout funds, the economically troubled country's government is required to set a date for binding bid submissions for the two ports.
The walk out and protests did not appear to affect traffic at the two ports, according to officials from the shipping ministry.
The dock workers' labour union released a statement promising to stop the port privatisations while accusing the government of selling out to "foreign owned monopolies."
"Ports should be developed by utilising own capital, through credit facilities and tapping European Union funds," said the statement.
The government has said that, as a result of the September election placing a hold on required ministry work, the sale process has been delayed by 20 days, and the bid deadline for Thessaloniki port has likewise been pushed from early February to the end of March.
In September, Ship & Bunker reported that Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates are amongst several nations said to be courting Greek shipping companies after a newly elected Greek coalition government, led by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, put the industry on alert for new taxes
