From this month’s issue of The Nation:
These days no one in Greece is worried about an invading army, but a new Asian power is trying to use Piraeus as its entryway into Europe. COSCO Shipping, a Chinese state-owned enterprise and the world’s largest shipping company. Piraeus workers told me COSCO’s push for cheap, subcontracted labor is a threat to their livelihoods—which generations of workers fought to obtain.
More generally, they said the ongoing privatization of publicly owned companies in Greece is prioritizing the rich over the poor.
The dockworkers of Piraeus say they and their families have seen little of the alleged gains brought by COSCO. As Piraeus Port Authority boasts of widening profit margins and increasing maritime traffic, wages for dockworkers haven’t budged since they were slashed from 1500 euros ($1,750) per month to 600 euros after the financial crisis. Beyond that, COSCO now hires few dockworkers as full-time employees, and tends to enlist unskilled laborers for complex container unloading. COSCO also primarily remunerates people on an ad hoc basis as subcontractors, leaving dockworkers and their families entirely dependent on the ebb and flow of traffic into Piraeus. It also means their traditional retirement benefits have disappeared.