ON THE highway from Athens to Patras the lines of huge container lorries had taken over the hard shoulder. Many of the drivers had set up picnic tables, sharing bottles of souvlaki and Mythos and a laugh and joke with the few policemen there to keep an eye on them. Down at Kalamata tankers anchored off shore empty waiting for their loads to arrive at the port. Since the last truckers strike in July which led to petrol stations across Greece running out of fuel the government has introduced ‘civil mobilisation’ which means the truckers cannot legally strike but they can drive very, very slowly and take very, very long lunch hours. Eighty trucks doing ten kilometres an hour on the main motorways causes one helluva traffic jam. In a country with so many islands dependent on supplies from the mainland, slowing up means running out.
On Wednesday as I return on the same motorway the trucks have gone. It was the day set for Parliament to pass the deregulation laws that would begin to break up the first of the powerful ‘closed shop’ unions that allow many professions protectionist licensing. Where truckers go architects and civil engineers will follow.
The truckers argue the move is unfair because many of their members have taken out huge loans to buy the 300,000 euros licences; they need longer to reclaim their losses. The government says only deregulation will bring down costs, open up competition, combat corruption and increase revenue.
Arriving at Athens bus station there is more than the usual chaos. The local radio reports the truckers outside parliament throwing cups of coffee at the National Guard. There are plenty of yellow cabs in a queue but none appear to be going anywhere. A driver shouts at me “klisto, klisto, centre closed..lotsa lorry” “Where you go?” ‘Pangrati’ I say it’s about 3 km from the bus station. He grabs me and pushes me towards a taxi already occupied by an old lady and a student. They look like they’ve been there a long time.
As we set off I’m alarmed to find us on a motorway going in exactly the opposite direction to home. About 10k out of Athens we drop the old lady who pays nothing. A quick U turn, and we head deep into the suburbs, the taxi driver cheerfully making a roll up with one hand, genuflecting as we pass each church whilst berating the greed of the truckers. Finally, half an hour into the journey we drop the University student who gives the driver just one euro, five minutes later I’m home. ‘Twenty euros,’ he says cheerfully then seeing the horror on my face says, ‘OK thirteen’. It’s illegal, of course, the practice of sharing taxis and not having the meter on, but I’m foreign and fair game. I’m reminded once again of the uphill task Papandreou’s government faces. Passing the law is one thing implementing it is quite another…the truckers may yet win.
