May Day Strikes in Athens Affect Olympic Airlines
May Day strike to disrupt Olympic Airlines flights, Athens
Athens, April. 30(AP): Olympic Airlines is cancelling dozens of domestic and international flights because of a 24-hour May Day strike by transport workers on Tuesday. Disruption is also expected on public transport in Athens.
The state-run carrier said 42 flights have been canceled, including nine international ones scheduled to fly to Britain, France, Germany, Cyprus, Turkey, Egypt and Romania. The departure of the morning flight to London would be delayed for nearly three hours, the airline said.
Many Olympic flights to the Greek islands and other provincial destinations have also been cancelled. Flights by private carriers such as Aegean Airlines, however, were not expected to be affected.
Urban transport in Athens was also to be disrupted by rolling strikes, including bus, trolley and metro services, while services on the electric railway were to be halted all day.
The strikes are in keeping with a tradition of labor activism in the Greek capital on May Day, which is a public holiday.
GSEE, the country’s largest labor union, has also called a nationwide strike for May 15 to protest the government’s handling of a pension fund scandal that led to the forced resignation on Saturday of Greece’s employment minister, Savvas Tsitouridis.
Public and private umbrella union organizations called major rallies for Tuesday. Police were expected to be out in force to prevent outbreaks of violence at the demonstrations.
The Greek capital has seen increased attacks by anarchists in recent days, including a grenade attack on a local police station early Monday.