Don't call it slavery

Call it "Austerity Services":

(AP) — In rain and shrieking wind, the ferry strains at its ropes, the gangplank creaking and scraping against the pier. A sailor on night watch duty huddles over a portable heater at the entrance to the cavernous hull.

For seven months, often under harsh winter conditions, Giorgos Polilogidis has waited for one thing: a paycheck.

A seasoned veteran of the seas, Polilogidis is among hundreds of sailors, mechanics, stewards and others who work on Greek ferries and, according to seamen's unions, have been going unpaid for months at a time.