Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-03-07
CONTENTS
[01] PPC workers continue strike
[01] PPC workers continue strike
Power cuts throughout the country continued on Friday as state-run
Public Power Corp. (PPC) employees refused to call off strike actions
while managing to maneuver out of a court hearing on the management's
case to have their strike declared illegal and excessive.
Their national PPC union, GENOP-DEH, called off the six rolling strikes
that were due to begin on Friday so that there would be no court
hearing. In the meantime, however, local employee associations that
comprise GENOP-DEH's membership around the country voted to stay on
strike.
PPC management has issued an announcement expressing hope that the
unions will at least provide skeleton crews needed to keep power plants
running if the strike continued into next week.
It also strenuously denied speculation that PPC CEO Takis
Athanassopoulos was about to hand in his resignation, or a trade
unionist's claim that power cuts were unnecessary and a deliberate ruse
to undermine public support for the strike.
Caption: A file photo dated Monday, Feb. 25, 2008 shows a giant banner,
placed by Public Power Corp. linesmen, along a major Athens
thoroughfare, and reading "We're resisting", part of PPC unions'
efforts to block perceived privatisation plans for the power utility
and social security reforms. ANA-MPA / PANTELIS SAITAS.
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