Workers Centre: Protest Rally on Sunday
The Workers Centre, the Federation of Corfu Agricultural Associations, Korissos, and other South Corfu grassroots organisations, are calling for a protest rally against the privatisation on Sunday, February 18, at 11:00 am at the port of Lefkimmi.
According to the Workers Centre, the consequences of privatising the port of Lefkimmi will be:
- An infrastructure that has been paid for and built by the Greek people is being handed over in exchange for a pittance to the hands of a private entrepreneur. We demand that it be renovated and operated by a public entity for the public good.
- The direction and decisions regarding the nature of the port, whom it will serve, and at what cost, are now in the hands of the private sector. We want these decisions to be made by the people and their institutions.
- The private individual has the ability to monopolise the majority of the commercial activity of South Corfu (as is the case with all similar privatisations), stifling existing small business activity. Additionally, they can direct, coordinate, and control the tourist movement of the area, reshaping its characteristics based on profitability and at the expense of numerous small tourist businesses. We insist that this organisation should be determined by land use, spatial planning, and a plan in accordance with the needs of the people by the local community's institutional bodies.
- Labour relations will be adjusted according to the desires of the private "harbourmaster," as was the case with COSCO in Piraeus, affecting the economic activity associated with the port. We are working for organisation and labour unity, the only way that can lead us to halt any new challenge to our rights.
- With the sale of the port, every possibility of utilising the port in the future for the benefit of the people of South Corfu is nullified, if at any time the latter decides to take matters into their own hands, choosing self-management.