After using riot police last month to stop a nine-day Metro strike, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is reportedly considering issuing a mobilization order to stop a growing strike of seamen who have shut down ports and kept vessels in the harbor.
The strike went into its fifth day on Feb. 4 and the seamen have voted to extend it to last Feb. 6 unless the government backs down on austerity plans they fear will force many of them to lose their jobs.
The seamen are protesting plans to reduce their numbers during winter months when there are far fewer passengers and less need for workers. The government said it may issue the return-to-work order unless the strike ends because the ships are vital couriers for the country’s islands that are being cut off.
The Panhellenic Seamen’s Federation (PNO) is also demanding back pay for the workers from ship owners, a collective wage agreement, and an end to undocumented and uninsured employees. The workers want the government to cancel a plan to regulate the minimum number of dock workers required in each crew, saying that would lead to layoffs.
The Panhellenic Nautional Federation union’s General Secretary, Yiannis Halas, in a statement to the Greek news AMNA, called on the government to accept its demands to roll back reforms that could force the layoffs of many seamen. Greece is in a sixth year of recession and the government is imposing another round of austerity measures in a desperate bid to keep the economy afloat.
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