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Victoria Mindova

The underground connecting Athens airport "Eleftheros Venizelos" with the centre of Athens has stopped running because of a blockade of trade unionists. The trains serving the "Athens airport - Doukisis Plakentias" line have been transferred to serve busier lines until the strike of underground workers ends.

Representatives of the union of workers in the Athens underground broke into the building of the Sepolia depot. It is the point of departure of underground trains but on Monday, the unionists blocked its operation as part of their active strike against the privatisation of the transport company that manages them. They oppose both the privatisation and the reduction of wages and say they are ready not only to occupy offices but also to stop the running of the underground public transport until they are assured that the government will not include their salaries in the payroll table that applies to the public administration.

"We insist that a prosecutor should be sent to order for an inspection to convince them all that the company is profitable," states the chairman of the trade union movement of underground workers, Antonis Stamatopoulos, for GRReporter and adds, "There is no way for the company to work at a loss with one million passengers daily." Trade unionists argue that public transport companies are not close to bankruptcy and that in this way, the government wants to create the impression that the private sector would be a better owner than the public one.

"We will not allow the company to be sold or our wages to be cut. Now, my salary is 1,100 euro. If they include us in the payroll table or cut it by 20-30%, it will reach around 700 euro net. For this money, no one can overwork under the ground, work night shifts and work overtime," the union leader explains the motivation for the blockade of the depot. The union is adamant that if their demands are not met they will proceed to active strike actions and block the underground.

Due to the blockade of the Sepolia depot, only eight trains are serving the "Agios Antonios - Agios Dimitrios" line instead of fifteen as scheduled. The "Egalio - Doukisis Plakentias" line, which is longer and busier than the first one, is being served by twelve instead of fifteen trains. The delays are tangible and many people resent the latest problem with transport in Athens.

"The times we are living in are difficult and no one likes them. These people strike to keep their higher salaries at a time when they should be thankful that they have a job," says Maria, who is 38 years old and works as a part-time English teacher in the northern suburbs of Athens.

Others take the actions of trade unionists as a normal protest of workers who are defending their rights. "They cannot exploit people to the end and expect that they will not respond. I do not like it that we will have problems with the transport again but I understand them. If they want to reduce your salary and the money is not enough to pay for the electricity, water and food on the table, not to mention taxes, it is quite normal to protest," says Mrs. Adigoni, who is of preretirement age in a family of four with two unemployed.

It is not yet clear how long the blockade of the Sepolia depot will last but the union of workers in the Athens underground say they will not hesitate to completely block the running of underground transport. The drivers of underground trains have a separate union, which does not  support the position of the other workers in the underground transport at present. However, representatives of train drivers told GRReporter that a further reduction in wages could possibly become the cause of a mass strike.