New wave of strike upheaval begins
Another week of strike chaos began Monday with the latest in a series of walkouts by public transport workers as municipal employees, teachers, tax collectors and others gear up for more action in coming days.
Monday?s walkout halted all forms of public transport and led to thousands of commuters bringing out their cars, creating congestion that was aggravated by several hours of heavy rainfall. Meanwhile go-slow action by air traffic controllers resulted in delays to dozens of flights. Unionists representing public transport workers are to meet today to decide on their next walkout, probably on Thursday or Friday.
Port workers are also to meet to decide whether to walk out over government?s reforms. Workers at Hellenic Petroleum are to stage a one-day walkout today but gas station owners said gas supplies should be sufficient until the end of the week.
Meanwhile, as thousands of tons of trash accumulate in the streets of the capital, striking municipal workers show no signs of relenting. The workers, who have been blocking the entrance to the capital?s main landfill in protest at cuts to wages and pensions, are to meet to today to decide on further action.
Schoolteachers are also planning to join the fray with work stoppages today and tomorrow.
The strike action is to peak next week with sources indicating yesterday that a 24-hour general strike called for Wednesday would be extended into a 48-hour strike, starting on Tuesday.
Bank workers are among those who will strike on both days. Some civil servants are to extend their action even further with tax collectors set to strike from next Monday through Thursday and customs officials from next Tuesday through next Saturday.
