Marseille oil port workers vote to end 18-day strike

MARTIGUES, France: Workers at France’s Fos-Lavera oil hub in Marseille voted yesterday to end their strike on its 18th day as it threatened to shut down refineries and cause a regional fuel shortage, a trade union official said.

Workers unanimously backed a draft deal struck with Gaz de France overnight to end the walk-out and allow the 63 ships blocked by the strike, including 39 oil tankers, to resume deliveries.


“We will try to organise ourselves so that activities can resume as of this afternoon,” union representative Pascal Galeote said after the vote. The strike could have closed nearly half of French refineries by next Wednesday and halted fuel supplies to millions of motorists in southeastern France by the end of next week, France’s petroleum industry body UFIP said.

The deal signed by both sides on Friday night met one of the workers’ key demands by stating that five port staff would be allowed to load and unload liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes at a GDF terminal due to start at the end of 2007.

Gulf Daily News