Georgiadis: Elefsis Shipyards workers are safe

Development and Investments Minister Adonis Georgiadis allayed the concerns of workers at Elefsis Shipyards on Thursday over the delay in pushing through a reorganization plan by an interested investor, saying this does not point to its shutdown.

Georgiadis spoke at a workers’ assembly meeting of the delay in tabling the plan in Parliament after the Hellenic Navy – which pays three quarters of the Elefsis workers’ wages while they await the finalization of the new plan – did not co-sign the plan.

This lack of endorsement prevented the speedier resolution through the courts by end-2021, the minister said, but did not cancel the upgrade plans.

US-based Onex, which has owned the Syros shipyards since 2019, first expressed an interest in becoming the strategic investor for Elefsis Shipyards in 2018.

Georgiadis said the government will table an updated legislative framework that will contain the entire streamlining plan as soon as next week, so that its ratification can be completed in April in a plenary vote.

“Presenting the plan as part of a piece of legislation is a quicker, and legally safer procedure,” he underlined, as all Greek political parties will have access to the entire plan and can take a stance on it in Parliament.