Taxi Drivers and Fuel Station Owners Go On Strike

Taxi drivers and fuel station owners are observing separate strikes in Athens on 18 March 2010, the latest in a series of labour actions to affect Greece. The taxi drivers object to new government regulations that would require them to issue receipts and keep account books. They held two similar 24-hour strikes in February and have threatened more work stoppages despite the fact that the government has postponed the implementation of these requirements until 2011. Gas station owners object to a new requirement to install cash registers and to increases in fuel taxes; they have also issued a threat of further strikes in the future. Meanwhile, an ongoing strike by employees of the Public Power Corporation has caused brief power outages in various parts of Greece, including the Attica region, where Athens is located. A doctors' strike is also ongoing and is expected to escalate; the labor action has already forced some hospitals to function with only emergency staff.