French fishermen, port workers step up blockades

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

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...