Flights Cancelled, Tourists Stranded

A 24-hour strike called by Greek transport workers Tuesday is expected to disrupt 100 flights at Athens International Airport -- leaving tourists and residents on several Greek islands stranded.

Greece's General Confederation of Employees, the country's largest labor union, called the nationwide strike to protest the government's handling of a pension fund scandal that led to the forced resignation of Greece's employment minister, Savvas Tsitouridis, Saturday.

Athens airport officials said Aegan Airlines cancelled 38 flights and Olympic Airlines was expected to cancel 62 international and domestic flights to the Greek islands and other destinations on mainland Greece while eight other flights, Milan, Belgrade, Bucharest, Hania and Santonrini are to be rescheduled.

Other transport workers expected to join the walkout include those with the suburban railway system, trolley, ports, bus and metro services. Banks, tax offices, primary and secondary schools, government and municipal offices will close for the day while construction workers will stay away from building sites, according to The Europe Channel.

The Greek mass media are also expected to join in the 24-hour walkout resulting in a news blackout that will affect all radio and television programming as well as press offices and print media

Media workers are demanding the return of their state pension funds' purchase of government bonds at inflated prices. The union is accusing more than 20 state-controlled funds of paying face value for bonds quoted at a steep discount by electronic vendors in what appears to have been long-running fraud carried out by Greek- owned brokerage companies as reported by European news outlet EUX.TV.

A protest march through central Athens to protest the latest fund scandal is also scheduled. Thousands of union members belonging to Greece's General Confederation of Employees and state sector workers are expected to participate.

FMI: www.aia.gr, www.gsee.gr/default.php (in Greek)