Over the weekend we reported on the second Greek strike of the year, the first being that of subway workers [3]which ended prematurely into its ninth day when the government threatened to arrest all strikers who had snarled traffic in Athens to a halt, this time involving Greek seamen who had left the Greek isles in geographic isolation for a week. Earlier today, the strike which had gone on for a week, was voted to be extended another 48 hours which mean ships would remain tied up in port until early Friday, while the seamen's union will meet anew to debate whether to further extend their walkout. Needless to say, the union is angry at pay arrears and government austerity policies. As of moments ago the union will be even angrier, as the government just announced it would order civil mobilization - or said otherwise, deploy the arrest threats - once again as a repeat desperate measure to halt this latest strike.
From Bloomberg:
- Greece’s government ordered civil mobilization to end 6 day strike, according to e-mailed statement from Shipping Ministry today.
- Prime Minister Antonis Samaras authorized Shipping Minister Konstantinos Mousouroulis to take emergency action to get crews back to work, ministry says
So just as Argentina "proved" it was in charge of the economy when it prohibited price hikes, so Greece is gingerly following suit in the same footsteps, by making it clear it will not tolerate dissent. Until, as in Argentina, the reaction to this latest bout of enforced central planning bubbles over and the people realize they have had enough. The only question then is whether the riot police and army will be, miraculously, too busy striking to protect the government. As other people's money in Greece runs out one more time, and is simply stolen by the government, we will certainly find out by the summer.