French dockers threaten strikes at major ports in February

FRENCH dockers are threatening strikes from the middle of February if the government fails to live up to alleged promises to create up to 30,000 jobs in return for their support of a reform of publicly owned ports.

The Confederation Generale du Travail (CGT) union has warned it will launch an indefinite work-to-rule campaign at France's seven largest ports, including the leading container hubs of Le Havre and Marseilles, on February 12, if Transport Secretary Dominique Bussereau fails to give adequate assurances on job creation.

As part of earlier protests, French dockworkers staged 24-hour nationwide strikes on January 4 and 11, and they have been refusing to work overtime or at night since early November, reports Newark's Journal of Commerce, adding that the industrial action was triggered by the transfer of 2,000 container crane and maintenance workers from port authorities' payrolls to those of private stevedores.

The dockworkers are also threatening to strike at the ports of Dunkirk, Rouen, Bordeaux, Nantes-Saint Nazaire and La Rochelle.

Source: www.schednet.com