French oil port strikers call for more action

PARIS (Reuters) – Striking workers at France’s largest oil port of Fos-Lavera in southern France on Monday entered their third day of action, stepping up pressure on the government over its plan to privatise state-run ports.

The three-day strike at the Fos-Lavera oil port in the southern port of Marseille blocked 29 oil tankers at quay or from entering the hub, the port authority said.


“Some 57 ships are blocked at sea or at quay, including 29 that carry oil,” the port said in a statement.
Operations at Fos-Lavera and other oil ports have been disrupted by a weekly 24-hour strike since mid-April in a protest against government plans to privatise loading activities at state-run ports.

But strikers stepped up the pressure last week when they extended their one-day-week strike on Thursday to Friday and Monday.

“We are in the process of hardening the action,” Pascal Galeote, head of the Marseille port CGT union,” told Reuters.

“We are calling for partial strikes on Tuesday and Wednesday and for full-on strikes at least on Thursday and Friday,” he added.

Reuters