The Infrastructure & Transport Ministry’s bill for the restructuring of Greece’s Civil Aviation Authority cleared the Greek parliament’s Standing Committee on Production and Trade on Monday.
It was approved by a majority of ruling party New Democracy MPs and rejected by SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, the Communist Party and MeRA25. Movement For Change (KINAL) and Greek Solution said they reserved judgement for the bill’s debate and vote at a full plenary session.
The bill has been criticized by air traffic controllers and other workers’ unions in the sector, as they have staged several job walkouts recently, with mobilizations coming up on Wednesday and Thursday.
Addressing the committee on Monday, Minister of Infrastructure & Transport Kostas Karamanlis described criticism by trade unions as an “absolute lie”, in response to claims of lack of consultation with them concerning the bill. He emphasized that meetings with all representatives of workers were held continuously, yet “the demands of the trade unionists were simply not accepted.” He reiterated that there will be no job losses, and that there is no question of redundancies or recruitments initiated by the private sector.
