Ships docked for another 48 hours

The Hellenic Shipping Federation conferred on Thursday, deciding to continue their strike for another 48 hours until 06:00 am on the 28th.

The strike includes ship categories for which Collective Contractual Employment Agreements are still hanging in the air, namely passenger liners, Mediterranean cargo ships and cargo liners under 500 gross tons.

The Hellenic Shipping Federation released a statement, declaring that "The Federation once more requests the understanding of passengers and apologizes for the inconvenience, but wishes to make it clear that the only people void of responsibility are Greek dockworkers". It also underlined that besides the Collective Contractual Employment Agreements there are other, unresolved matters in existence: "The Hellenic Shipping Federation is still fighting without pause for the satisfaction of certain innate, just and mature demands that it has issued, such as the combating of unemployment, the guarantee of employment positions for the Greek dockworkers of all areas of specialization, the strict adherence to lawful processes on a ten-month contractual employment agreement of people employed in liners and cargo ships alike, but also the most important and dominant point is the introduction of a new, independent unemployment fund for seamen, which in turn will become the central axis and main basis for the Federation itself, as well as for Greek dockworkers".

"Furthermore, the inexcusable situation that still plagues the one profitable and growing insurance sector of this country, the Naval Pension Fund, and the serious cutbacks to the pensions of the retirees of said fund only indicate that these people are treated as second-class citizens while they were the ones have always supported the fund with foreign currency. It constitutes a painful and degrading reality for pensioner dockworkers."

"Last but not least, the sad situation that naval training finds itself in, with the lack of functional buildings and bases of operations and the non-hiring of trained teaching personnel in Commercial Navy academies contribute neither to the allure of the profession nor to the introduction of new people in it.