GREECE: Railway workers stage 24-hour strike against railway privatisation

Record ID: 338816

  • Title: GREECE: Railway workers stage 24-hour strike against railway privatisation
  • Date: 15th October 2010
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (OCTOBER 14, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HUNDREDS OF RAILWAY EMPLOYEES WALKING HOLDING A LARGE BANNER READING: (Greek) "THE STATE RAILWAYS ARE NOT FOR SALE" (3 SHOTS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTING EMPLOYEES ON MOTORCYCLES, FOLLOWING PROTESTERS MARCHING ON FOOT (2 SHOTS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTING EMPLOYEES MARCHING HOLDING BLACK FLAGS (2 SHOTS) PROTESTERS HOLDING LAR
  • Embargoed: 30th October 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVAAEBY295WMUATPIETB04IW81PF
  • Story Text: 'The state railways are not for sale' read a large banner as hundreds of railway employees protested in central Athens on Thursday (October 14) calling on the government not to privatise the railway as the restructuring bill was being discussed in parliament.
    Some of the protesters drove motorcycles in the convoy as part of the demonstration, which ended peacefully outside the parliament buildings.
    "They created this situation so they can hand over the railways to private interests unconditionally, without any labour deals, under medieval conditions where they will have the right to fire us," said George Yassas, vice president of one of the railway workers' unions.
    The 24-hour strike is one of a series of labour actions by the railway workers' union in the last few months, which caused the cancellation of foreign and domestic train schedules. The foreign routes travel to the Balkans and Turkey.
    The government is planning a restructuring and partial privatisation of the loss-making railways organisation -- for years an albatross around the state's neck after having accumulated a debt of 10 billion euros (14 billion U.S. dollars).
    The restructuring will include wage cuts and reducing staff numbers through early retirement or transfer to other public service jobs. Even though workers will not be laid off, they are still opposed to being transferred. The state company has large staff costs, which include very high wages, and has under constant restructuring.
    The government plans to sell a 49 percent stake of the organisation. More than 6,000 employees work for the railways, and the government wants to reduce that number by half. It also wants to stop loss making lines and modernise the organisation.
    The plan is part of targets in an EU/IMF economic austerity program after Greece received a bailout from both to avoid bankruptcy. The government, pushing forward several privatisations in order to cut public spending and waste, has said the railways cannot survive in their current state.
    ENDS.
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