The torpedoing of the agreement that the workers and Port Authority of Piraeus had reached threatens to take the Greek port into a dead end. A personal intervention by the Merchant Marine Minister and his desire to renegotiate the Agreement with the workers ruined a process that was about to conclude on a positive note. The dockworkers, who have made several protests, are ready to demonstrate once again if to the desire to cut back their employment rights persists.
Faced with this situation, the workers of the port of Piraeus have decided to demonstrate against the conservative Government of Kostas Karamanlis, who is behind the attempt to sabotage the agreement between the workers and the Port Authority. The ultimate objective of this intervention is the complete privatisation of the port and a reduction in dockworkers’ employment rights. Among the most serious attacks, for example, is the proposal to remove fixed employment and to introduce labour flexibility by an arbitrary extension of shifts.
The workers, who are part of the International Dockworkers Council (IDC), have already adopted several protest measures, such as an overtime ban, an occupation of the Port Authority offices, and even a two-day strike which will paralyse the port on 9th and 10 th June. The dockworkers are demanding that the Merchant Marine Ministry gives its backing to the agreement between the trade union and the Port Authority and withdraws its attempt to renegotiate the Agreement by imposing its conditions. It is impossible to consider dockworkers as casual workers, which is what the Greek Government wants. They are permanent workers in all senses of the word. This was recognised by the Piraeus Port Authority and that is what should be stipulated in the Agreement.
