(23 Jun 2010)
1. Pan of passenger ferries in port
2. Wide of people gathered near ferries
3. Tense conversation between striking worker and passenger
4. Tilt down from Greek flag to striking workers
5. Pan of striking workers
6. SOUNDBITE (Greek) Sotiris Pontikogiannis, striking worker:
"The measures that the government is passing in cooperation with the IMF (International Monetary Fund), the EU and the European Bank are leading workers way below poverty levels."
7. Various of passengers with luggage at port
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Kristian, last name not given, tourist from Norway:
"I don't think it's fair for us. Probably they have lower salaries and so on but they shouldn't strike illegally."
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Claudia, tourist from Spain:
"And we want to enjoy ... And we can't because we can't go to Santorini, and we have the hotel paid and if we don't take this boat we lose a lot of money."
10. Wide of ferry worker looking down from ship
11. Ferry workers at entrance to ship
12. Docked ship seen through ropes
STORYLINE:
Striking port workers were preventing hundreds of passengers from boarding ferries heading from Greece's main port of Piraeus to Aegean holiday islands on Wednesday, despite a court order declaring their strike illegal.
Tempers frayed at the port, with passengers arguing with strikers preventing them from accessing the ships.
Passengers had turned up at Piraeus early in the morning after ferry firms had said they planned to go ahead with scheduled routes following a court ruling late on Tuesday declaring the strike illegal.
At least five boats had been scheduled to sail for the Cycladic islands, one of the country's top tourist destinations, early on Wednesday, while others had been set to leave for the southern island of Crete later in the day.
Only two of 14 unions represented in the main port workers' umbrella union had said they wanted to participate in Wednesday's 24-hour strike, called by PAME, a communist party-backed labour group.
The union is protesting government austerity measures designed to pull Greece out of a financial crisis that saw it come to the brink of default last month.
The scenes at Piraeus come as Greece's main tourist season gets into full swing and will horrify those who work in the vital tourist industry, which has already seen a drop in bookings due to the financial crisis.
Industry experts say bookings are down by an average of about 10-12 percent this season, following deadly riots that left three people dead last month in Athens when a protest against painful austerity measures turned violent.
With tourism accounting for more than 15 percent of Greece's gross domestic product and one in five jobs, the government has launched a campaign to attract more foreign visitors.
In an attempt to assuage the fears of prospective visitors that the repeated strikes and demonstrations Greece has seen would disrupt their holidays, a top minister pledged the state would cover the extra costs of any visitors who become stranded.
Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos said on Monday that the promise would apply to tourists whose visits are
prolonged due to strikes or even natural disasters.
Greece's budget and debt crisis saw it narrowly avoid bankruptcy last month by using the first instalment of a 110 (b) billion euro (123 (b) billion US dollar) package of rescue loans from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
To secure the rescue loans, the centre-left government slashed pensions and civil sector pay, and increased consumer taxes.

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