Athens, Oct 10: Work at the Olympic athletes' village ground to a halt yesterday when 600 construction workers went on a 24-hour strike to protest poor safety conditions.
The walkout came after an Albanian labourer was killed Wednesday when he was struck by a concrete mixer. He was the fifth worker, and fourth immigrant, to be killed on the site.
The death "was another proof of the lack of safety measures on the worksite ... Where the large majority of employees are immigrants," Greek construction workers' union official Yiorgos Theodorou said.

Greek government spokesman Christos Protopapas promised an inquiry into the death.
The construction industry, boosted by work on the 2004 Olympics, is booming. The majority of workers are immigrants, mostly from Albania and Pakistan.


Bureau Report