Greek dockers strike, blast EU austerity, vow disruption if ports privatized

GREEK dockers staged the first of their threatened strikes, part of widespread protests against the government`s intention to carry out the austerity programme needed if Greece is to receive US$17 billion of a $158 billion European Union rescue package and usher a new loans to avert a full blown sovereign debt default.

Dockers also threaten a summer-long campaign of disruption if the government sells its 75 per cent in the Port Piraeus near Athens, where Cosco has its the big terminal.


Joining the walkout were air traffic controllers, truckers, seafarers, shipyard workers, rail workers and public sector employees as part of the fourth general strike this year.


Parliament was to vote on the government`s austerity measures, involving cuts to spending, tax increases and privatisation, reported Newark`s Journal of Commerce. Failure to approve it may well prompt the first sovereign debt default, spreading collapse through the 17-nation eurozone and into the global banking system.