GREECE STRIKE

VOA News
July 29, 2010 at 7:23 am

Striking Greek truck drivers say they will ignore a government order to return to work Thursday.

A member of the truckers’ union, Spyros Kapetanios, says drivers will continue the strike they started Monday, despite the threat of arrest.

The truckers are protesting plans to open up their industry to competition by overhauling licensing rules. The plan is part of an austerity program agreed to by Greece to obtain billions of dollars in emergency loans from EU nations and the International Monetary Fund.

A team of EU and IMF officials visited Athens Wednesday to inspect the government’s progress in implementing the program.

A Greek government spokesman says the strike has caused fuel and food shortages.

Some information in this story was provided by Reuters.