North
American Labor Union advises against privatizing with Germany-based
Fraport group
The
austerity program prescribed by the European Union as a condition of
Greece’s loan extension includes a privatization program to raise
50 billion euros from the sale of Greek state assets. While Germany
was widely perceived as taking a hardline approach in negotiations
over the terms of loan extensions, a German company—Fraport
Group—that is majority owned by German local governments may be one
of the beneficiaries of this privatization program.
Fraport
is the owner and operator of Frankfurt Airport, one of the largest
airport in Europe. In November 2014, a Fraport-led consortium won
a tender offer to operate 14 Greek regional airports for a term of at
least 40 years. However, after the Syriza-led government took power
in January 2015, Greece began reevaluating the existing privatization
program, putting the Fraport deal in jeopardy.
The
recent terms prescribed by European Union member states, including
Germany its most influential member, preempt a full reevaluation and
make finalization of the Fraport deal more likely. Soon after the
Greek parliament voted to approve the bailout terms, the CEO of
Fraport and the Minister of the State of Hesse, which owns 31% of
Fraport, visited Brussels separately in an effort to complete the
deal with new guarantees favorable for Fraport.
A
North American labor union has entered the discussion by advising
Greece against finalizing the deal with Fraport, based on its own
experience with Fraport at the Baltimore-Washington International
Airport (BWI). The labor union, UNITE HERE, has been involved in a
labor dispute with Fraport’s US subsidiary, AIRMALL USA since early
2013.
Fraport
purchased AIRMALL in August 2014. Workers, union officials and
American politicians have called on Fraport and its shareholders to
take measures to fix problems with jobs at the AIRMALL-managed BWI
concessions program. Still, in over 10 months of ownership, Fraport
has failed to implement any meaningful policies to fix the problems
with jobs at the airport.
UNITE
HERE representatives are in Greece the week of July 27 to educate
decision-makers about the conduct of Fraport’s AIRMALL subsidiary
in the United States and to recommend that the Greek state explore
all available options to withdraw from the deal.
Source:
Unfortunately,
SYRIZA was forced to retreat also in this matter and 14 of the most
vital for tourism Greek airports, will be sold off to the German
company under the new "deal" with the creditors.
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