Changes to the Greek pension system are behind strikes that have put waterfronts at standstills not long after the government sold a majority stake of one of its ports.
Farmers and ferry crew members brought operations at Greek ports to a halt with a 48-hour walkout that began Jan. 20, Reuters reported. The farm workers poured their milk into the streets and ferries remained docked as the strikers protested the government's efforts to cut its annual pension bill. The January walkouts are considered early action, with a larger national walkout scheduled for Feb. 4.
The February walkout was planned by both private and public sector workers. This strike will last 24 hours.
"This is a first response to the third (bailout) maelstrom," the Panhellenic Seafarers' Federation said in a statement, according to the media outlet.
Though six ports, including the one at Piraeus, saw workers strike one of Greece's more significant harbors, Thessaloniki operated normally. However, farmers in the country's second-largest city, after Athens, did join the protest.
"The government is planning to double our taxation … and triple our pension contributions" Vagelis Boutas, president of a national committee coordinating the farmer protests, told Reuters. "This is unacceptable, they will exterminate us."
The Greek government recently sold a 67 percent stake in the Piraeus Port Authority to China's Cosco Group for 368.5 million euros ($402 million), according to the Journal of Commerce (JOC). Greece is also preparing tenders to sell the Port of Thessaloniki later this year. The pension cuts and port sales will reduce costs for the government, but may not be well received by the individuals who work the waterfronts.