Court orders Greek dockers back to work at Cosco's Piraeus terminal

GREEK dockers at Cosco's Piraeus container terminal have been have returned to work under a court order which bans further strikes and threatens daily fines of US$6,000 if workers walk out again.

A Piraeus judge ordered 1,500 dockers back to work after they again started striking the Cosco Pacific terminal early October in a series of on-again off-again work stoppages to pressure the recently elected socialist government to insert job security clauses into the already signed 35-year concession agreement.

The union claims the government has reneged on its promise to revise the Cosco contract. The government has since said that it cannot undo the contract, but can only plead with the Hong Kong company to be more considerate of job security.

Thousands of containers have been stranded in the dispute, and it has been reported that newly appointed Piraeus port authority chief has started talks with Cosco on job security.

 

Source: www.schednet.com