French port union warns of possible strike in March

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

28 Feb 2008

France's port and dock union, part of the CGT federation, on Wednesday said it would call a 48-hour strike unless the public port authorities agreed to start negotiations soon. "We ask for a meeting to start negotiations during the week of March 3-7," the union said in a letter to the port authorities."Without a response...we commit to take a 48-hour strike action on March 11-12, 2008," the CGT added.The French government said last month it will privatise the loading activities of seven out of nine public ports as part of a reform plan to be carried out in the spring.The CGT last week lifted a threat of immediate strike action in state-owned ports but kept a strike notice over the government reform plan.The government has been under pressure from the shipping industry to reform French ports to make them more efficient, but has delayed doing so because port workers have high union membership and frequently go on strike.At a meeting with the port and dock union on Feb. 21, the governemnt committed to fund urgent and essential investments and to keep the ports within the public domain.The CGT branch for ports and docks said the proposals made during the meeting "deserved careful thought" and "a collective study".The union also warned a plan to develop the competitiveness of public ports was "necessary and right" but that it could not happen hastily.Staff at Marseille's Port Autonome (PAM), which houses the 115,000 barrels-per-day Fos-Lavera oil hub, have held several strikes in the last couple of years, causing disruption to refining and other port activities.An 18-day strike at the terminal last year threatened to shut down some refineries and cause a fuel shortage in southeastern France.Shipping industry players have been calling for the reform to bring French ports up to date with competitors.In 20 years, Marseille, France's largest port, has dropped from first to 11th place by volume in the Mediterranean for container transport, and is still losing market share.