Greek truck strike sees petrol and fresh food shortages

Jul 30, 2010, 9:58 GMT

Athens - Tens of thousands of tourists and Greeks were left stranded by petrol shortages on Friday as truck drivers defied an emergency order by the government to return to work.

Some 35,000 truck drivers began a strike on Monday to protest at the government's decision to open up their profession to competition by slashing the price of new licenses.

The walkout has caused a severe fuel and fresh food shortage across the country as well as hitting the country's vital tourism industry.

Thousands of tourists, mainly from Serbia and Bulgaria, who drove to Greece for their holidays have been stranded as petrol stations dried up.

The emergency government order was issued late on Wednesday and truck drivers had 24 hours to comply or risk criminal persecution and loss of their licenses.

So far the drivers have disregarded the emergency order, despite talks with the government on Thursday. The truckers' general assembly was scheduled to meet at noon on Friday to decide whether to continue the strike.

Reports said that at least 100,000 Serbs were stuck in Greece, mainly in the northern Aegean - the Halkidiki peninsula and the island of Thassos.

Many Serb tourists said fuel was available on the black market for up to five euros for a litre of unleaded, around three times higher than the normal price.

News of the strike at the start of the week sent thousands of Athenians and Greeks in other parts of the country panicking for fuel, leading to long queues at petrol stations.

Greece's main labour unions have since February staged repeated strikes against the tough austerity measures and reforms the country has agreed with its euro zone partners and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for a 110-billion-euro (138 billion dollar) economic bailout.

A team of EU, IMF and European Central Bank officials are currently in Athens to monitor progress and decide whether to release the second installment of the emergency package in September, totalling 9 billion euros.

Under the terms of the bailout, Greece must open up many closed professions to competition, including road freight, lawyers and cruise ship crews by September.

Last month, striking cruise ship crews closed down parts of Greece's largest port of Pireaus during the busy tourism season.