Greece Orders Striking Ferry Workers Back to Work

Walkout shut down services for several days

For the second time in less than two weeks, the Greek government invoked emergency laws to order strikers back to work Tuesday — in a move set to end a seamen's walkout that has left islands without ferry services for six days.

The decision by conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to order ferry crews' civil mobilization came after their unions voted to extend the strike until early Friday. Seamen who refuse to return to work risk arrest and jail time of up to five years.

Samaras' three-party coalition government is facing a strong backlash from unions over new austerity policies forced upon it by international creditors, whose bailout loans are shielding debt-heavy Greece from bankruptcy.