Ferryboat operators and representatives of the union of seafarers in Greece continued negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement in the coastal shipping sector, with entails increased significance in the country due to numerous island routes.

The federation representing the owners is expected to table its final offer on Friday.

One sub-union representing lower crew members, PENEN, on Wednesday claimed that the owners’ federation, SEEN, proposed a zero retroactive wage hike for 2020; the same for the first 10 months of 2021; 1 percent from Nov. 1, 2021 until June 2022, and another 1 percent hike for the remainder of 2022.

PENEN said it rejected this offer, adding that proposed hikes insufficient to meet wager-earners day-to-day needs and amid an inflation rate moving at 3.5 percent on an annual basis, as it charged.

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