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Log inFrench fishermen, port workers step up blockades
French fishermen, port workers step up blockades
by Outspoken on Sat May 17, 2008 9:05 pm
French fishermen, port workers step up blockades
AFP News Service
LA ROCHELLE, France (AFP) - French fishermen angry at high fuel costs kept up a week-long blockade of Atlantic ports Saturday, as striking workers paralysed two other major ports in protest at privatisation plans.
As the fishermen's protest spread to several new harbours on the west coast, a two-day strike by maintenance staff ground the Channel port of Le Havre and Nantes-Saint-Nazaire on the Atlantic to a halt.
Since April, France's major ports have been disrupted by a string of strikes by workers angry at plans to privatise some heavy machinery operations in line with dockers whose jobs went private in the 1990s.
The container port at Le Havre, France's second-biggest after Marseille, was shut down mid-afternoon Saturday until at least Sunday at 3:00 pm (1300 GMT), according to the local CGT union.
The union has called for fresh strikes on Tuesday and Thursday, according to port officials.
In France's eighth-biggest port of La Rochelle, a cordon of fishing boats sealed off access to the commercial harbour La Pallice for a third day, though they agreed to allow commercial traffic in and out for three hours a day.
They also blockaded the historic port and the Minimes marina, used by hundreds of pleasure craft, while around 40 fishermen stopped trucks delivering seafood to the nearby Ile d'Oleron, linked to the mainland by a bridge.
Further up the western seaboard, ships were prevented from docking at the Sables-d'Olonne, where the protest movement broke out on May 10, as well as the pleasure port in Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie.
Off the coast from there, fishermen on the Ile d'Yeu voted to strike until Wednesday, when Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Michel Barnier has agreed to meet fishing sector representatives.
Protests also spread up the coast to the ports of La Turballe and Le Croisic, where fishermen also went on strike until Wednesday.
The fishermen are demanding action from President Nicolas Sarkozy's government to help them cope with a sharp increase in the price of diesel fuel that has reached 70 euro cents per litre, up from 40 cents in November.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080517/bs_afp/francefishingportprotestinflation_080517195101;_ylt=Aies2Q7q.l0N5iSM_FOeI6us0NUE
(AFP/File/Xavier Leoty)
AFP News Service
LA ROCHELLE, France (AFP) - French fishermen angry at high fuel costs kept up a week-long blockade of Atlantic ports Saturday, as striking workers paralysed two other major ports in protest at privatisation plans.
As the fishermen's protest spread to several new harbours on the west coast, a two-day strike by maintenance staff ground the Channel port of Le Havre and Nantes-Saint-Nazaire on the Atlantic to a halt.
Since April, France's major ports have been disrupted by a string of strikes by workers angry at plans to privatise some heavy machinery operations in line with dockers whose jobs went private in the 1990s.
The container port at Le Havre, France's second-biggest after Marseille, was shut down mid-afternoon Saturday until at least Sunday at 3:00 pm (1300 GMT), according to the local CGT union.
The union has called for fresh strikes on Tuesday and Thursday, according to port officials.
In France's eighth-biggest port of La Rochelle, a cordon of fishing boats sealed off access to the commercial harbour La Pallice for a third day, though they agreed to allow commercial traffic in and out for three hours a day.
They also blockaded the historic port and the Minimes marina, used by hundreds of pleasure craft, while around 40 fishermen stopped trucks delivering seafood to the nearby Ile d'Oleron, linked to the mainland by a bridge.
Further up the western seaboard, ships were prevented from docking at the Sables-d'Olonne, where the protest movement broke out on May 10, as well as the pleasure port in Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie.
Off the coast from there, fishermen on the Ile d'Yeu voted to strike until Wednesday, when Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Michel Barnier has agreed to meet fishing sector representatives.
Protests also spread up the coast to the ports of La Turballe and Le Croisic, where fishermen also went on strike until Wednesday.
The fishermen are demanding action from President Nicolas Sarkozy's government to help them cope with a sharp increase in the price of diesel fuel that has reached 70 euro cents per litre, up from 40 cents in November.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080517/bs_afp/francefishingportprotestinflation_080517195101;_ylt=Aies2Q7q.l0N5iSM_FOeI6us0NUE
(AFP/File/Xavier Leoty)
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