Greek telephone company workers began a week-long strike yesterday to protest against the government bill authorising the privatisation of 49% of the state phone company OTE and its management: we are staging 24-hour rolling strikes until the bill is voted to protest the nation’s wealth being sold off to foreigners, said union spokesman Yorgos Dafnis; the government aims to sell 35% of OTE and management control to a strategic investor and to list 14% on the Athens bourse; the six companies in contention for the 34% stake are Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp, France Telecom, GTE Corp, Telefonica de Espana SA, STET SpA and Korea Telecom Ltd; OTE expects a record pre-tax profit of $700m this year, up from $400m.
