Strike closes the pier Cosco


Workers rose up at the pier of Cosco response to the leveling of labor relations experience daily in their work and decided escalating their protests until Monday while creating the association. 

These developments began gushing from early Friday morning, when changing shifts so workers in night shift refused to leave the field of terminal and morning shift stayed outside. 

Employees working and committed attitude concentration putting demands on working conditions. Shortly thereafter held an informal meeting and decided to continue their mobilization until Monday and proceed to create the association. 

Locally arrived responsible company, in which the individual lives and "hired" to Cosco and began negotiations for the requests made​​. 

Note that the first mobilization, which is at the pier of Cosco, highlighting the huge problems that exist on labor relations in the workplace. 

The demands of the workers 

Before some time the workers gathered at the pier of Cosco unanimously approved their requests, which are recorded in a list and depict a working medieval work intensification, which can reach even 16 hours a day (!) Without paid holidays , overtime or weekend work. 

Also very important is the demand for notifiable accidents because like complaining employees in case of accident injured transported by private cars and there is no statement accident. 

Further, the list of demands of workers in Cosco is: 
• Be signed Collective Agreement. 
• To recognize the profession as a heavy and unhealthy 
• To increase the wage. 
• Increase the "posts" on every crane in 5 people from 3 today (was 4 people and decreased by one). 
• paying the kavodesia, overtime, weekends and holidays. 
• notifiable accidents because this time transporting wounded by IX 
• To be paid a special allowance to enaerites. 
• Provide risk allowance. 
• To calculate the 3yrs 
• To build working committee that will discuss the problems at 
• To be breaks within shifts 
• Abolish the 16hr work. 
• To undertake labor regulations. 
• To contribute due. 

Locally they have been supportive and employees with the president of the Dockers PPA Nikos Georgiou and board members of the Federation of Employees in Ports Greece (OMYLE). 

"The OMYLE from the first moment we emphasize the necessity of a union at the pier of Cosco. H violation of labor rights and the prohibition of association can not cover forever the working middle ages, present in Cosco », said the president of OMYLE George Georgakopoulos. 

SYRIZA 

A Piraeus MP of SYRIZA Theodore DRITSAS in a statement described the fair demands of workers and noted that "Prime Ministers, former and current, the responsible ministers, the ruling majority and the big bands of Mass Media, and competent services state criminally silent and instead shamelessly indulge in viewing a supposedly idyllic story regarding the status COSCO Piraeus Port. "

"SYRIZA and other parties, the OMYLE the Dockers Union, the PENEN, the Labor Center of Piraeus and many others have repeatedly denounce this unacceptable reality. Sometimes with speeches in Parliament," said Mr DRITSAS. He added: 

"It's time to end all this. We ask you to sign a collective bargaining agreement, to protect the right to organize workers and admitted immediately all laws and super-ripe demands. "

"Particularly so for the complaint that accidents not reported injured and transported by private invite the Prosecutor to intervene immediately. 
In democratic Greece Greek workers one investor is not acceptable to behave either as colonialist is Greek, German, American, Katarianos, French or Chinese. This let's all understand, "said Mr. DRITSAS.

Every port in every country are trying to squeeze the workforce for more profit. The days of Dockers holding Ports to a ransom have long gone, they just want to earn a living with a proper shift rota.


A rare strike was called on Friday at the container terminal at the main port of Piraeus run by Chinese shipping giant COSCO, a union official said.
"A strike has been called until Monday by around 150 dock workers," George Georgakopoulos, head of the federation of Greek port employees (Omyle) told AFP.
The strike was called in demand of back pay and improved labour conditions, Georgakopoulos added, noting that COSCO staff were not allowed to unionise and that employment rules on the dock were unclear.
"Wage agreements are kept private, but we've been told of 35-euro salaries, far below what container crane operators should earn," the union head said.
"It's also unclear what the work schedule is, people are called in via cellphone messages," he said.
In 2008, as Greece plunged into a deep debt crisis, COSCO signed a 35-year concession to expand the two main container terminals at Piraeus. It plans to invest $230 million (170 million euros) in expansion works by 2020.
COSCO's involvement in Piraeus is one of Greece's top privatisation deals, and successive governments have courted Beijing for further investment as it labours to pull out of a six-year recession.
Greece and China last month signed investment and trade deals worth $6.5 billion (4.8 billion euros) during an official visit by Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang.


Athens (AFP) - A rare strike called at a Greek container terminal run by Chinese shipping giant COSCO has been called off, a union official said on Saturday.
Around 150 workers at the main port of Piraeus had on Friday said they would strike until Monday to demand back pay and improved labour conditions.
But on Saturday, the head of the federation of Greek port employees (Omyle), George Georgakopoulos, told AFP that agreement had been reached on some of the workers' demands and "the strike is called off."
The workers' grievances included low wages, not being allowed to unionise and unclear employment rules on the dock.
In 2008, as Greece plunged into a deep debt crisis, COSCO signed a 35-year concession to expand the two main container terminals at Piraeus. It plans to invest $230 million (170 million euros) in expansion works by 2020.
COSCO's involvement in Piraeus is one of Greece's top privatisation deals, and successive governments have courted Beijing for further investment as it labours to pull out of a six-year recession.
Greece and China last month signed investment and trade deals worth $6.5 billion (4.8 billion euros) during an official visit by Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang.

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