Workers’ unions at all public transport means in Athens will launch a 24-hour strike on Wednesday, September 21, 2022, following a call by the Athens Labor Center. Buses and Trolley Buses, Metro, Tram and urban train ISAP will remain in the depots, forcing Athenians to seek alternative ways to reach their work place or return home.
The 24-hour strike was called unexpectedly on Tuesday afternoon, and there is still the possibility the legal appeals by the transport companies will modify the workers’ mobilization or even cancel them.
Reason for the strike is the voting of the bill for the privatization of utility companies via the Super fund, which among others extends also the contract of the private intercity buses KTEL with OASA (buses and trolleys) for urban transport routes.
According to a decision by OASA Workers’ Union, buses and trolleys buses are expected to stop operating from the start of the shirt at 5:00 a.m. until the end of the shift at night. The 60 bus lines allocated to KTEL will be running normally.
According to STASY Workers’ Union, Metro lines, the Tram and ISAP train will also go on a 24-hour strike, reported athenstransport.gr.
In a joint statement by the unions of STASY workers, it was stressed, among others, that “while society experiences, every day, the consequences of the privatization of Public Power Company PPC, with the dramatic increases in the price of electricity, the Government is promoting its plans for the privatization of E.Y.D.A.P. (public water company in Athens) and the Public Transport companies, such as O.A.S.A., STA.SY. and O.S.Y., ignoring the consequences of the speculation that will be for the most important common good, the water, and the Urban Transport.
The bill aims to facilitate speculation, privatizations, and a series of regulations, which lead to the dissolution of labor unions, create multi-speed workers within the same workplace and further undermine the role of collective bargaining, the transport workers stressed.
UPDATE:
According to latest information Tuesday evening:
Court decisions for the strike in Athens Public Transport are expected until noon Wednesday.
Proastiakos and 60 urban KTEL lines are expected to operate as usual.
There is absolutely NO WAY that the water company should be privatized. Water is a matter of National Security and should be run by the state. Get lost EU! Italians voted in a referendum that they did NOT want water utilities privatized, Greeks should have the right to vote for that too.