Greek ferries tied up in port at start of 48-hour strike

A man rides his bicycle past docked ferries at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, Friday, Dec. 2, 2016. Ferries across Greece are to remain tied up in port for two days as seamen walk off the job to protest proposed tax hikes. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) (The Associated Press)

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A small vessel carring two workers pass by a docked ferry at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, Friday, Dec. 2, 2016. Ferries across Greece are to remain tied up in port for two days as seamen walk off the job to protest proposed tax hikes. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) (The Associated Press)

A Greek Orthodox priest stands next to a docked ferry at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, Friday, Dec. 2, 2016. Ferries across Greece are to remain tied up in port for two days as seamen walk off the job to protest proposed tax hikes. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) (The Associated Press)

ATHENS, Greece – Ferries across Greece are to remain tied up in port for two days as seamen walk off the job to protest proposed tax hikes.

No ferries will run for 48 hours from Friday morning until Sunday morning, leaving many of the country's islands cut off from the mainland and from each other.

Seamen are protesting government proposals their union says would abolish tax breaks for their profession, setting income tax at 45 percent in addition to an existing 10 percent special tax.

Greece's left-led government has been struggling to meet criteria that will allow the release of more funds under the country's third international bailout. Greece has relied on bailout rescue loans since 2010, and in return has had to overhaul its economy and implement painful spending cuts and tax hikes.