Thessaloniki Urban Transport Organization

Police in Thessaloniki have arrested the former chief of the northern port city's transport authority for running up debts to the EFKA social security funds of more than 2.35 million euros.

Christos Stefanidis, 74, stands accused of delaying social security payments due by the OASTH company. The period under question appears to be February 2017, according to the ANA-MPA news agency.

A collision between an automobile and an urban transit (OASTH) bus in the city center of Thessaloniki left three people injured Friday morning.

According to the fire brigade, six firefighters were dispatched to the scene and performed an extraction operation to save two people, the driver and a passenger, who were pinned inside the car. The third injury was a passenger on the bus.

In the latest clash between the judiciary and the leftist-led government, the Council of State on Friday suspended a decision by the Transport Ministry to renationalize the Thessaloniki Urban Transport Organization (OASTH).

The ruling followed an appeal by shareholders in OASTH for plans to liquidate the company to be suspended.

Recently, whenever government lawmakers have found themselves under pressure during their rare appearances on radio or television programs, the only thing they have seemed capable of doing is blaming their predecessors, saying, "The others before us did the same thing," or something along those lines.

There was a changing of the guard at the Thessaloniki Urban Transport Organization (OASTH) on Thursday but it appears that the denunciation of the government's decision to remove the existing board and bring the firm under public control isn't going to stop anytime soon.

The government on Thursday defended its decision to appoint the father of a prominent minister and close friend of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to the helm of a state transport organization, rebuffing accusations of corruption and nepotism from across the political spectrum.

Opposition parties have accused the government of corruption and nepotism following the appointment on Wednesday of the economist Stelios Pappas, the father of Digital Policy Minister Nikos Pappas, as the new president of the Thessaloniki Urban Transport Organization (OASTH).

Transport Minister Christos Spirtzis announced on Wednesday the appointment of the economist Stelios Pappas, the father of Digital Policy Minister Nikos Pappas, as the new president of the Thessaloniki Urban Transport Organization (OASTH).

Employees of the Thessaloniki Urban Transport Organization (OASTH) are to walk off the job for the ninth day in a row Tuesday, demanding the payment of months of outstanding wages, and leaving the northern port city without bus services.

After numerous transport disruptions in Thessaloniki, the union of bus drivers in the northern port city, OASTH, have warned they will take further industrial action if they do not receive October and November wages they are owed.

"If they don't pay us tomorrow, we won't have any money to buy our children milk," the union's president, Dimitris Tsermenidis, said on Monday.