Local staff sit-ins protest list demands

Municipal workers occupied local authority offices in Athens and other cities on Monday to protest the troika’s demands to provide central government with a list of employees to be suspended ahead of early retirement or transferred to other parts of the civil service.

The action, coordinated by the Panhellenic union of local authority workers (POE-OTA), was also aimed at hampering the compilation of the lists the country’s creditors want local authorities to send to the Interior Ministry, with the offices of mayors and municipal clerks among those that were occupied.

The Central Union of Municipalities and Communities of Greece (KEDKE) on Monday expressed its “total opposition” to the suspension of local authority workers, noting that this would leave municipalities unable to fulfill their duties. Several municipal councils, including that of the northern port of Thessaloniki, held votes to highlight their opposition to the measure.

Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris said he backed his council but opposed calls by other mayors for mass resignations as a way of protest. “I’m not resigning. I’m telling you from now. You will have to put up with me until the end,” he said.

Source: ekathimerini.com