ATHENS, Greece, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A strike by Greek truckers is in its third week, crippling the transportation of products throughout the country.
The daily newspaper Kathimerini reported the truck owners' union and business owners failed to break their impasse during talks Monday. Union leaders were to meet Tuesday to chart a course of action.
Two of the country's three largest fish farms suspended their operations because they can't get fish feed delivered. Food items on supermarket shelves are getting thin. Textile companies are having trouble getting raw materials.
With talks between the unions and the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce and other trade sector representatives going nowhere, Giorgos Tzortzatos, leader of the truck owners' union, says he wants to meet with Prime Minister George Papandreou. Sources told the newspaper no such meeting was in the works.
So hundreds of truckers were idle with their vehicles parked in long lines along major highways on the outskirts of Athens and Thessaloniki. Tensions at the Metamorphosi junction in northern Athens have produced scuffles between the drivers and police, who used tear gas to disperse the drivers.
The Athens News Agency reported New Democracy Party leader Antonis Samaras called on the truck owners to suspend their strike Monday while urging Papandreou to extend the transitional period for implementation of legislation liberalizing the road freight transport sector.
Samaras said "reason should prevail to both sides of the conflict because the market has reached its limits and will not be able to withstand the current situation much longer."
Meanwhile, Greece also was in the midst of three days of intermittent walkouts by rail workers. Passenger train traffic between Greece and Bulgaria will be affected through Wednesday, The Sophia Echo in Bulgaria reported.
