Greek truck owners on Sunday voted to end a strike that had starved the country of fuel and dealt a severe blow to tourist enterprises hoping to make up revenue losses from a lacklustre tourist season during the July-August peak. The vote was carried by a narrow majority during the truckers' general meeting and not before serious problems had been caused to the supply of goods to markets throughout Greece. Truck owners are now waiting for the government to end the civil mobilisation and warned that they will resume strike action if the government failed to honour its side of the bargain. If all goes well, they go back to work on Monday.
The meeting had been preceded by a flurry of consultations the day before that also involved other professional groups, which mediated between truckers and the government with proposals that truck owners suspend their open-ended strike if the government stopped a civil mobilisation to force truck owners back to work and requisition their vehicles.
The proposal was adopted by both striking truckers and Infrastructure, Transport and Networks Minister Dimitris Reppas, provided that the truckers pledged not to begin any new strike action while dialogue on a draft bill to open up the road freight sector was underway. The draft bill is due to be voted on at the end of September.
The minister said that the dialogue will deal with proposals linked to tax and insurance issues relating to truck owners and ways to make them eligible for assistance under the development law. At the same time, he ruled out any discussion on extending the three-year transition period from the current licensing regime to the new system.
According to the truckers' union president Georgios Tzortzatos, all truck owners will return to their work on Monday morning under the condition that the government will annul the civil mobilisation order and a new round of dialogue will start with the government.
"We reached the decision with a sense of responsibility and taking in account all the problems that have been caused by the truckers' action," Tzortzatos said.
According to the latest reports, meanwhile, private, armed forces and requisitioned fuel tanker trucks were making good progress restocking the market with fuel, with a large number of petrol stations in Attica and Thessaloniki now having adequate supplies.
Truck owners began last Monday after the government unveiled a draft bill that opens up the road freight market that is currently only open to government-licensed "public use" vehicles. The last truck licences in the country were issued by the government in the 1970s and there has since developed an informal market in truck licences.
Greek truck owners on Sunday voted to end a strike that had starved the country of fuel and dealt a severe blow to tourist enterprises hoping to make up revenue losses from a lacklustre tourist season during the July-August peak.
02.08.2010
