Guards at archaeological sites across Greece walked off work for four hours on Tuesday to protest government plans to outsource ticketing for the Acropolis. Guards warn of more protest actions.
The work stoppage took place form 8 a.m. until 12 o’ clock noon on Tuesday, January 16, 2024.
The union of archaeological sites guards, PEYFA, argued that the state should retain control of ticketing and admissions to the country’s top archaeological site, and should hire additional staff to manage swelling visitor numbers and the new electronic system booking visits at appointed time slots.
PEYFA continues and will continue its mobilization in response to the decision of the political leadership, that is the Culture Ministry, and the Cultural Resources Management Organization (ODAP) to award to private companies through an open tender the issuing of tickets to the archaeological site of the Acropolis, as well as the control of entry and cancellation of tickets for entering the monument.
Services such as the issuance, cancellation of tickets and the reception of visitors, until today are provided by the permanent staff without any further burden on the state budget, the union stressed in a statement.
“The Ministry of Culture and the leadership of ODAP do not present any argument why they want private individuals – whose only purpose is profit -, instead of hiring permanent employees who under the control of the State will provide these services,” the union added.
It announced “it will continue to fight against any form of privatization in the operation of the country’s museums and monuments.”
Culture Minister Lina Mendoni suggested in a recent interview that guards “are obviously annoyed about being cut off from the ticket tills.
PEYFA has responded minister’s claim by expressing concerns about mismanagement of funds by private companies.
The Ministry went even so far to indirectly blame the guards and the ticketing personnel for the long queues outside the Acropolis last summer, when everybody knows – and the ministry also admitted- that there are infrastructure problems as the 2,500-year-old monument cannot absorb over 15,000-20,000 visitors per day.
