Dockers stage 24-hour strikes at Le Havre, Marseilles

FRENCH dockers staged 24 hour strikes at Le Havre and Marseilles this week, and more work stoppages are expected as the protest over waterfront privatisation continues.

The dispute now centres on the transfer of 2,000 gantry crane operators and maintenance staff from government port authority to private stevedoring companies.

Operations at the top French container port of Le Havre nearly stopped when 3,000 longshoremen walked off, reported Newark's Journal of Commerce, adding that cargo movement in five other state-owned harbour facilities were also hit last week.

Work on the Marseilles docks also stopped and 15 ships were trapped, but passenger ferries and oil shipments continued unimpeded at both ports, said the report.

Dockers also struck at Dunkirk, Rouen, Bordeaux, La Rochelle and Nantes-Saint Nazaire. The Confederation Generale du Travail (CGT) union called the two strikes to pressure on the government to create 30,000 waterfront jobs as part of its reform.

The CGT now threatens further action if the government does not respond, despite its failure to force the issue by inflicting three months of rolling strikes in the past to stop the reforms.

Le Havre reports its 2009 container volume fell 10 per cent year on year to 2.2 million TEU while overall cargo shrunk 8.4 per cent to 74 million metric tons. Port interests fear more strikes will prompt shipowners to drop French ports and route cargo overland to French importers.

Source: www.schednet.com