MARSEILLE (Reuters): Dock workers at Marseille and about 100 other European ports went on strike on Tuesday in protest at an EU proposal aimed at fostering competition among port services, France’s CGT trade union said. The dockers were responding to a protest call by the International Dock Workers Council (IDC), which says European Union plans to deregulate cargo handling are aimed at removing organised labour from docks.
The CGT said workers at the independently-run Marseille port, a petrochemicals hub and jumping off point for passenger trips to Corsica and north Africa, began a 24-hour strike at about midday.
Calais port in northern France was also paralysed by the industrial action by CGT members, forcing some freight services to be diverted.
“The outline proposed by the directive creates conditions under which one or two shipping or financial groups will very quickly get a dominant position in several European ports,” the CGT said.
In a statement last week, the IDC said the EU’s proposals “were clearly anti-union, designed for the benefit of ship-owners and shippers, primarily to remove organised labour from the docks”.
