Striking port workers today protested in front of the Athens Stock Exchange where a meeting was taking place to rubber stamp Cosco Pacific’s controversial takeover of Piraeus port.
The Greek government has moved to privatise the ports of Piraeus and Thessaloniki in a bid to bolster its coffers as demanded by the European Union. However, port workers are not happy about the move, fearful for their pay and future job prospects under Chinese control and the nation’s top two ports have been hit by a wave of strikes.
In a move to appease them, the government has discussed transferring the most disaffected port workers to other parts of the civil service.
The chairman of Greece’s privatisation agency, TAIPED, Stergios Pitsiorlas, described the strikes this week as “disastrous.”
