Greek bus drivers go on 24-hour strike

Описание: (12 Apr 2012) 1. Various of striking bus drivers staging sit-in at Kifissos bus station, scuffles between bus drivers and bus owners
2. Various of riot police, strikers' banner
3. Mid of striker holding banner
4. Mid of dispute between passenger and bus driver (passenger on left of shot)
5. Wide of bus backing out of station (not all drivers were striking, and some buses managed to get past strikers' blockade)
6. SOUNDBITE (Greek) Giannis Zacharakis, striking bus driver:
"We are striking because they're taking a whole 40 percent (of salary) out of our pockets."
7. Mid of passenger reading book, sitting on her suitcase
8. Close up of bus driver at wheel of bus unable to leave
9. SOUNDBITE (Greek) Andreas Maniatis, bus owner:
"We are stuck in the bus. They (bus drivers) might be striking, but this doesn't mean they have a right to occupy private property. This is a private space the bus owners have paid for. It has nothing to do with them. And I'm surprised the police haven't already intervened."
10. Mid of bus passengers on stranded bus
11. SOUNDBITE (Greek) vox pop, Nikos Anastasopoulos, stranded bus passenger:
"We have already been stranded on this bus for an hour and a half. We want to go about our business but we can't. I personally have a doctor's appointment on behalf of my mother but I can't go. I do understand the bus drivers' point of view, they are right to have demands because when an employee is fired, only bad things can come of it for him and his family. However, I hope they do find a compromise."
12. Passenger inside bus, waiting
13. SOUNDBITE (Greek) vox pop, Dimitra Grimara, stranded bus passenger:
"After working till late last night, I did everything in my power to get myself ready for my trip, and then I found out I wouldn't be travelling."
14. Passenger leaving bus
15. Wide of a coach pulling into car park outside bus station, next to riot police (alternative coach laid on for passengers on board coaches unable to leave bus station)
16. Mid of man checking passengers' tickets as they board coach
17. Close of tickets
18. Wide of police and riot police signalling next to bus in car park outside bus station
STORYLINE
Greek long distance bus drivers on Thursday launched a 24-hour strike, on the day most Greeks were leaving town for their Easter break.
Thousands of Greek Orthodox Easter travellers were left stranded on Holy Thursday when a group of bus drivers held a sit down strike at the Kifissos inter-city coach station in Athens, preventing coaches from leaving.
Police surrounded the protesters, but did not intervene when scuffles broke out between striking bus drivers and bus owners.
Drivers are angry over wage freezes and redundancies, part of the latest austerity measures.
Giannis Zacharakis, a bus driver for 33 years, said he and his colleagues were facing two salary cuts in one year.
He said drivers experienced an initial 22 percent private sector wage cut imposed by the government, and are now facing added cuts to salary benefits by bus company owners.
Not all drivers went on strike; some agreed to work after they caved in to threats by employers.
Even though the bus drivers' union announced the strike on Wednesday evening, many travellers still showed up at Kifissos bus station on Thursday hoping the strike would be called off.
Several Greek media outlets reported the strike would cause minimal scheduling disruptions on Thursday morning.
But after spending two hours stranded on a bus at the station, passenger Dimitra Grimara was furious.
Grimara said her pay was also low but this had not caused her to strike.

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